Guggenheim 635--San Francisco c. 1956

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, titled Guggenheim 635--San Francisco, at some point during his time in the US. The arrangement of images provides a glimpse into his working process. Consider the image at the top. Here we see two girls and two boys sitting at evenly spaced intervals along a stone bench. What does it mean that the white children sit at one bench and the black children sit at another? Frank took these photographs in the mid-1950s, at a time when the institutions of American life were still mostly segregated. The contrast between the composition of the image, seemingly balanced and harmonious, and the stark reality of racial division makes for a disturbing commentary on the social structures of the time. As historians, we can look to publications, archives, and other documentary sources to shed light on the social and political context in which these images were made. This will help us understand their significance.