Market outside Zurich--Farming 1943

Robert Frank made this silver gelatin print called "Market outside Zurich--Farming". It shows three men and two little pigs. They are performing for one another! I’m struck by the strange gentleness of the scene. Look at how the pigs reach up to the men’s hands, their snouts soft and searching. I wonder if Robert Frank saw something of himself in the faces of these farmers? Did he feel a similar tenderness for his subjects? Photography and painting each involve framing the world, selecting what to include and exclude. Like a painter mixing colors, Frank uses light and shadow to create a mood, a feeling of intimacy and quiet observation. You can see a directness that reminds me of the starkness of some of his earlier work, but softened by the tenderness of the subject. Like all art, it’s about seeing and feeling—a fleeting moment captured and transformed into something lasting. The way one artist speaks to another through time!