Funeral/Paris 1951

Robert Frank made this photograph, Funeral/Paris, using a handheld 35mm camera and black and white film. Frank's working method was quick and intuitive. He would have rapidly set the aperture and shutter speed and pressed the button. The resulting grainy, high-contrast image emphasizes the gritty reality of everyday life. Note how the umbrellas become abstract shapes, merging with the rain-streaked background. This wasn't detached photojournalism, but an intervention. By embracing the aesthetics of immediacy, Frank broke from traditional photography, which prized technical perfection. His approach reflects a post-war sensibility, where the truth was not always clear, and the artist's subjective vision was paramount. Frank was less interested in photography as a fine art, and more in its capacity to capture raw emotion. His work redefined the medium, paving the way for a more personal and engaged form of visual storytelling.