Guggenheim 629--San Francisco c. 1956

Robert Frank’s contact sheet, *Guggenheim 629—San Francisco*, presents us with a series of black and white moments. You can see the artist working through a set of ideas. Look at the way he includes himself, how he's trying to arrange the various pictures. As a painter, I recognize the mindset of searching for the right composition. I see Frank's interest in form, how light and shadow define the subject. What he is trying to capture? The subject seems almost incidental. He is thinking about form, and how we see. There is a quiet, watchful gaze. It makes me think about John Cage and his emphasis on ambient sound and visual noise. It is like he’s saying, “Okay, what do we have here?” and then sharing it all.