Couple seen through mirror--Baton Rouge, Louisiana 1955

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, "Couple seen through mirror—Baton Rouge, Louisiana." Photography always bears a close relationship to the society that produces it, and Frank was particularly attuned to the social realities of his time. Look at the dark tonality of this print, the graininess of the image, the way it seems to be almost a captured fragment, rather than a carefully composed view. In his work, Frank was drawn to the gritty textures of everyday life and the economic realities of postwar America. He used his 35mm Leica, a relatively small and portable camera that allowed for spontaneous, on-the-go shooting. The result is a body of work that challenged the conventions of fine art photography, embracing a more documentary style, and forcing us to confront the complex and often contradictory nature of American life. It reminds us that materials, making, and social context are crucial for understanding the full meaning of an artwork.