Switzerland 1 1961

Robert Frank created this photographic contact sheet, printed on paper, to explore the Swiss landscape. I see so many images here of mountains. I feel the cool air up high and imagine Frank moving from place to place, trying to capture the essence of Switzerland. I wonder what it was like for him to look through the viewfinder, composing each shot. You know, photography is about trying to find a place to put a frame. Here, Frank's selected frames are marked with red grease pencil, kind of like a painter selecting a detail. The contact sheet is like a conversation between the artist and the world, each frame informing the next. It's a bit like a painter's sketchbook, full of starts and stops, experiments, and ideas. Frank shares something with other artists; there's always that dialogue with what's in front of you, and also, the ongoing conversation that artists have with each other. Every artist kind of throws their hat into the ring, like, here's my view.