Mary and Andrea--Los Angeles 1956

Robert Frank made this silver gelatin print, Mary and Andrea – Los Angeles. Light streams into the room. A bed is the dominant plane, supporting two figures, like the base layer of a painting supporting subsequent layers. Frank, a fellow artist, is thinking about relationships, space, and form. It must have been something he thought about a lot. In this image, he is using light to build the composition, as if he is constructing a painting, adding shades and tones of light to construct the atmosphere of the scene, to get it just right. He’s thinking about edges and shape, just as a painter might consider the edge of a form as it meets the background, playing with space and depth. Frank has created a domestic scene as he explores the interplay between these figures and the light that frames them. It's like they are sharing a secret. The conversations between artists are ongoing. We are always looking, sharing, and responding.