Butcher, Paris 1951

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, ‘Butcher, Paris’, sometime in the middle of the twentieth century. It’s all about atmosphere, a little stage set of daily life. I wonder what it was like for Frank, camera in hand, stepping into that butcher shop, a place so different from the pristine gallery space where we now stand. Did he feel like an intruder, capturing a world that wasn't meant for display? Or was he drawn to the raw, visceral reality of it all? The meat carcasses hanging like sculptures, the butcher absorbed in his work – he’s looking down and seems so oblivious to being documented. He might be humming, who knows? There’s a kind of poetry in the mundane, a beauty in the everyday. And Frank, with his keen eye and honest approach, makes us see it too. We can all draw inspiration from each other, just like painters do! It's about finding something real in the chaos and sharing it with the world.