Pisa--Italy 4 1964

Robert Frank's 'Pisa--Italy 4' is a photographic work of art that presents a series of images on what appears to be the original film strip. The dark and light areas create a rhythm. It's a bit like looking at a sketchbook, but with photographs. My eye is drawn to the single image with the red square around it, highlighting the Leaning Tower framed against a dark background. It’s off-kilter, just like the tower itself. The surface has a physical quality, with the sprocket holes and the manufacturer’s markings along the edges. There's a rawness here, a sense of the photographic process being laid bare. It reminds me a little of Ed Ruscha's books, in that it treats the photograph as a document, almost like evidence. Frank isn't trying to pretty things up. He's showing us the world as he sees it, in all its messy, imperfect glory.