Memorial Day--Great Neck, New York no number 1954

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, Memorial Day--Great Neck, New York, at an unknown date. It’s an arrangement of negatives, a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his working process. Frank, who emigrated from Switzerland after World War II, is most famous for his book, *The Americans*. This book emerged from a Guggenheim Foundation grant and contains photographs taken as he traveled across the United States. In *The Americans*, Frank captured the social landscape of the 1950s, from diners and highways to political rallies. He made pictures of both everyday life and racial segregation in the Jim Crow South. This contact sheet reminds us of the institutional support that Frank received. It also highlights his sharp eye and critical perspective. To understand this work better, you might look into the history of photography and consider Frank’s influence on later generations of artists. You might also ask what it means to be an outsider looking in, and how this affects an artist’s interpretation of a culture.