Delegates, convention hall--Chicago 1956

Curator: So, we have before us Robert Frank's gelatin-silver print titled "Delegates, convention hall--Chicago," captured in 1956. What strikes you about it right away? Editor: It feels...claustrophobic, almost oppressive. So many faces, all looking in roughly the same direction, and yet it’s hard to read any genuine connection between them. And those hats, "Harriman," plastered across them. It’s a sea of conformity, ironically proclaiming a name. Curator: The "Harriman" hats definitely add a layer of symbolism. In that era, political conventions were carefully orchestrated displays of party unity. These hats act almost like badges, denoting allegiance, submerging individual identity. Editor: Yes! And the grainy quality of the black and white intensifies that feeling, as if the picture is somehow revealing the process to be a little bit suspect and overly contrived. It lacks transparency in a world of media. Curator: Frank was very much interested in capturing the undercurrents of American society, and frequently challenged its more simplistic narratives. He moved around in the crowds as a visitor or stranger, and yet took shots from within, making it even more realistic and capturing these "decisive moments". Editor: I see the photograph being about surface and depth. Those clean portraits in the back contrast heavily with the common attendees on the convention hall. And speaking of undercurrents, the high contrast really draws my eye. Are we supposed to consider how class and access factor into it? The darkness around each of these folks in the crowd makes you think that it would be a sad state of affairs being one of them, forced to be a Harriman! Curator: That tension between surface appearances and deeper truths is absolutely central to Frank’s project. This photograph does have some ambiguity: do these attendees participate out of choice, obligation, both? Editor: Well, it certainly is quite the period piece. Overall I like the chaos depicted with such a stoic color palate, it helps elevate the importance without losing the message. What would you want folks to take away? Curator: I'd hope viewers would contemplate the nature of political participation, the role of individual versus collective identity, and whether public displays truly reflect private convictions. Frank holds up a mirror to American democracy, reflecting both its aspirations and its contradictions. Editor: Yeah. I dig it. It definitely is doing more than its surface lets on! I can tell. It seems like Frank managed to leave an everlasting cultural artifact that depicts his moment as clearly as ever.