Guggenheim 684--Blackfoot, Idaho 1956

Robert Frank made "Guggenheim 684--Blackfoot, Idaho" using photography, and what we see here is the artist's process laid bare. Frank is like a painter using a sketchbook, except his sketchbook is a roll of film. The composition has a beautiful, almost musical rhythm, with the dark, rectangular frames acting like bars of silence between each fleeting moment. Look at how Frank moves between scenes, between crowds of faces and glimpses of everyday life. There is a sort of looseness, as if each frame is part of a larger stream of consciousness. The grain of the film becomes a texture in itself, like the impasto of paint on canvas, adding a tactile quality to the image. Frank’s work, and this piece in particular, reminds me of the street photography of Garry Winogrand. Both artists capture a sense of urgency, a raw energy of the moment, which in turn became a conversation for artists exploring the fleeting nature of the world around them. This piece doesn't aim for perfection, but embraces the beauty of imperfection.