"Vogue" women--New York City W21 1952 - 1953

This is a photographic contact sheet by Robert Frank, who wandered the streets of New York City with his camera, looking. In this grid, we see fashionable women, caught unawares, like the artist was trying to keep up with them. I can imagine him, dodging traffic to grab a shot. I see an artist hard at work, responding to real life. Some of the frames are upside down, and in one, it looks as if he made a note in the negative with grease pencil. The light is uneven—sometimes overexposed, sometimes underexposed. Even the focus is not quite right. Frank’s pictures remind me that art is not about perfection, but the messy, honest attempt to capture something true. This work isn't about fashion, but how he looked at women. He’s in conversation with all the street photographers who came before, like Helen Levitt, Lisette Model, and Garry Winogrand.