Outdoor sculpture of mother and child, Paris 1951

Robert Frank captured this outdoor sculpture of a mother and child in Paris, using a camera. The grainy texture and monochromatic tones give the photograph a timeless quality, as if it could have been taken anytime in the last century. The sculpture itself looks weathered, each mark on the stone worn away by time. Look at how the light catches the mother’s arm, how that smooth surface gives way to the rough texture of the stone in the shadows. The photograph's composition is so simple. The eye is drawn to the sculpture, but it’s partially obscured by the branches in the foreground. It’s a kind of layering that gives depth to the image. Frank’s photograph reminds me a little of Eugène Atget, in the way it captures the quiet beauty of everyday life, turning something ordinary into something sublime. It’s a reminder that art is all around us, waiting to be discovered.