Guggenheim 770--Wanamaker fire, 10th Street, New York City 1956

Robert Frank's "Guggenheim 770--Wanamaker fire, 10th Street, New York City" is a contact sheet from a roll of 35mm film taken in 1956. This photo is one of the many capturing a pivotal moment in American history and photojournalism as a genre. This artwork is a powerful visual documentation of a fire in New York City. The contact sheet format provides a glimpse into Frank’s working process as a photographer, showing how he framed and captured the scene from various perspectives. The immediacy of the event is captured in the composition, which combines the chaos of the fire with the calm bystanders. This contact sheet, like many of Frank's works, reveals a powerful social commentary on urban life in America.