Untitled 1958

This is a black and white photograph by Robert Frank. Frank’s photography offers a stark, unflinching, unsentimental view of American life. I see the same unflinching quality in the faces here. The woman being fitted with the hat is smiling with her eyes closed, an almost vulnerable expression that somehow feels complicit with the helping hand on her head. The other woman is smiling too, but it's a different kind of smile, something a little more assertive, a bit more knowing. There is a certain irony in the fact that Frank, known for his street photography and documentary style, would take this sort of picture, which feels staged and contrived, yet strangely revealing. The light is subdued, creating soft shadows that accentuate the lines and contours of their faces. It feels almost like a theater of gestures, a performance captured mid-act. It’s like Frank is saying, "Here, look at this, look at what we do to ourselves." Frank makes me want to question the social scripts we follow.