Sideshow, Paris 1951

This gelatin silver print, Sideshow, Paris, was made by Robert Frank sometime in the middle of the twentieth century. The scene, rendered in shades of grey, is a blur of excitement and anticipation. I can imagine Frank, with his trusty Leica, lurking in the Parisian night, waiting for the right moment to capture this fleeting scene. The figures, mostly obscured, become archetypes – the showman, the gawking crowd, the anonymous masses. Frank's knack for capturing the gritty reality of postwar life reminds me a little of Daumier. Both are drawn to the everyday dramas of common people. I wonder if Frank felt like a showman himself, curating reality through his lens. He would have been constantly adjusting his focus, framing the world to reveal its hidden poetry. It’s interesting to consider his work in the light of painters like Philip Guston, who embraced a similar kind of social commentary, albeit through abstraction. These artists, regardless of medium, show us how to look and question the world around us.