Guggenheim 459/Americans 9--Hollywood 1956

Robert Frank made this contact sheet, Guggenheim 459/Americans 9--Hollywood, using gelatin silver print. It looks like a record, a set of potential images taken from a larger roll of film. The texture comes from the photographic process. It’s about light and shadow, the graininess giving a sense of immediacy. The red marks remind me of a painter's notations, like Cy Twombly's marks on photographs, showing a selection process. Look at the frame with the building at night; it's almost glowing. Frank has circled it, maybe that was his pick of the bunch. It's such a simple image, yet full of mood, the stark light against the dark, the building looking a bit lonely. Frank's work, like that of Walker Evans, captures a slice of American life, but with a raw edge, and with a sensibility that allows for interpretation, like all the best art.