Elderly man with notice, Geneva 1945

Editor: We're looking at Robert Frank's gelatin-silver print, "Elderly man with notice, Geneva," from 1945. The stark black and white tones give it a sense of gravity, almost a feeling of post-war anxiety. The man's holding a sign with some urgent text; it's all a bit puzzling. What do you see in this photograph? Curator: Ah, Frank. He had such an intuitive sense of capturing the zeitgeist. Look closer – the sign mentions "La charte des Nations Unies est votée" - The UN Charter has been ratified". There's also something about arresting Ribbentrop and nazi activity in neutral countries, quite powerful stuff when you consider that in 1945, the war had just ended. Do you notice how the lines of the building in the background echo the harshness of the text? And the man’s hat indicates he is Swiss...it is an observation about the Swiss position. Editor: Yes, I see what you mean. The sign almost seems to weigh him down, like a burden he has to carry. It’s a surprisingly direct statement, isn’t it? I guess I'm so used to more abstract post-war art. Curator: Precisely. Frank wasn't one for subtlety, I always thought. He just seemed to go for an absolute gut-punch. And look at how the light hits his face—worn, yet resolute. A small player in a very big game. Makes you think about the individual in the face of history, doesn’t it? I almost imagine that you might hear a bark if you approached him, I just see dogs when I view his images. I wonder where that came from? Editor: It really does. I hadn’t connected the Swiss neutrality angle either – that’s crucial for understanding it, thank you. I came to it just seeing one old man carrying a sign in an historical way. It does seem bigger, now! Curator: Exactly! It's like a visual poem capturing a specific moment and yet also timeless... A question mark to all who stumble upon it. What more can we want from art than such a conundrum?