Couple in car--Blackfoot, Idaho 1956

Robert Frank captured this black and white photograph, "Couple in Car, Blackfoot, Idaho," during his cross-country travels in the 1950s. It's a seemingly simple image: a woman is driving a car with a man beside her. But Frank’s work challenges the idealized imagery of the American Dream prevalent at the time. Look at the woman's face: there's a tension there, a far cry from the smiling faces often seen in advertisements. The car, a symbol of freedom and mobility, here seems more like a cage. Frank was interested in portraying the everyday realities of Americans, not just the glossy facade. Frank once said he was trying to show "what America is like." Through his lens, we see a more complex, and at times, unsettling portrait of a nation grappling with its own identity. This photograph invites us to consider the unspoken narratives within the frame, and the quiet struggles of everyday life.