Actress, NBC TV studio--Burbank, California c. 1955 - 1956

Robert Frank’s photograph captures an actress backstage at NBC Studios in Burbank. Look at how this image is framed; it's not just a portrait, it's a study in contrasts. On one side, you have this performer decked out in what looks like an antebellum-era costume, totally owning her space, and on the other, there's this bleak, institutional corridor. Frank is so good at capturing these off-kilter moments, and I bet he just walked around until he found a scene. I wonder if she knew she was making a great picture by just being there. What gets me is how these two worlds collide. The actress in costume seems so alive, in contrast to the door marked “Chorus”. So many of the abstract expressionists explored similar territories, just in paint, people like de Kooning and Kline. There’s no neat resolution here, just this raw, beautiful, unsettling slice of life.