Train--Transportation 1941 - 1945

This silver gelatin print of a train against a backdrop of snowy mountains was made by Robert Frank. Look at the gray scale: it moves from almost white to charcoal and umber. I can imagine Frank out in the cold, peering through the viewfinder, trying to capture something about the scene. It feels like he’s dealing with the contrast between the man-made, like the telephone poles with their orderly lines, and the big mountain looming behind it all. The image feels so still, but you can almost hear the low rumble of the train. The tracks and the telephone wires run parallel to each other, leading your eye back into the landscape, toward a vanishing point that suggests movement away from the viewer. Frank captured a moment of quiet and contemplation. He's inviting us to think about being on the move versus staying put. He's always thinking about those tensions between different states of being.