Delegate, convention hall--Chicago 1956

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, "Delegate, convention hall - Chicago," at an unknown date. The image is built with grainy textures and rich blacks and grays—it’s a real study in contrasts. I can almost feel Frank’s presence in this fleeting snapshot of an older woman sitting between two Dr. Pepper machines. I wonder what he was thinking when he released the shutter. Did he notice how her pursed lips mirror the angular forms of the soda dispenser, or how the screen above her head is buzzing with a static energy that mirrors her own? There’s a sense of loneliness and introspection hovering in the air, thick as dust. The flat surface of the photo belies a sense of depth, an investigation into what is American. Frank is in conversation with Walker Evans, who, like Frank, wanted to show America as it really was, stripped of all pretension. They are both reminding us that art is about looking closer, longer, and harder.