Die Reportage (Reportage) 49-60 1944 - 1946

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, 'Die Reportage 49-60,' sometime between 1949 and 1960. It's a photographic collage, really, a collection of moments, like sketches in a visual diary. The high contrast, the stark blacks and whites, give it this urgent, immediate feel. It's like Frank is grabbing these scenes right out of the air. Looking at the surface, you can almost feel the grain of the film, the way the light catches on the paper. There's a sense of texture, even in these flat images, especially in the boxes of produce. I'm drawn to the image marked 53, with the hands reaching into the frame, doing something with the vegetables, it's a gesture of labor, of connection. It is this kind of intimacy that Frank excelled at capturing. It reminds me of other photographers of that era, like Henri Cartier-Bresson, who was also trying to capture these fleeting moments of everyday life. But Frank has a rawer edge. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation, always building on what came before.