Guggenheim 513--Daughters of the American Revolution convention, Los Angeles 1956

This is Guggenheim 513, a photographic contact sheet by Robert Frank. The images, shot at the Daughters of the American Revolution convention in Los Angeles, are small windows into a world of formality and, maybe, constraint. What grabs me is the materiality – the dark, glossy surface, the regimented rows of frames. Each image is a little study in light and shadow, but it's the spaces in between that really sing. That blackness acts like a stage, highlighting the subjects' faces, the cut of a hat, a floral arrangement. Look at the frames surrounded in red. There's a sense of looking in on something, a voyeuristic peek into a world both familiar and foreign. It reminds me a little of Garry Winogrand, another street photographer who captured the pulse of America with a similar sense of detachment. Like all great art, it’s less about answers and more about posing questions, a snapshot of a moment that invites endless interpretations.