Pablo VI 1953

Robert Frank made this photographic contact sheet, titled 'Pablo VI', at an unknown date. Look at this amazing document of the artist's process! I think about Frank standing in his darkroom, bathed in the red glow of the safelight, hunched over trays of chemicals. I imagine the smell of vinegar, a scent both sharp and strangely comforting. He must have been developing roll after roll of 35mm film, each strip a potential story waiting to be told. There are multiple shots of a child sitting in a chair with his parents, each frame capturing a slight shift in expression, a different angle of light, a moment in time. And then, there’s the street scene, a burst of urban energy amidst the quiet domesticity. The red pen circling some of the frames is particularly interesting. What caught his eye? Why these specific moments? It reminds me that art-making is about seeing, deciding, and selecting, but also about intuition, chance, and the messy, beautiful reality of life.