Untitled (Man and Woman) 1958

Robert Frank’s black and white photograph captures a man and woman in an indeterminate time and place, maybe the 1950s? Looking at it, I’m struck by the mystery of the everyday. Frank could be channeling Hopper with the woman’s gaze, distant and lost in thought. Or maybe the guy, holding a newspaper, is worried about a late train. I’m drawn to the blur of the background figures; it feels like Frank’s trying to capture a mood more than a moment. The high contrast reminds me of Weegee, and all those other street photographers, each one a witness, distilling life down to its simplest forms. I imagine Frank wandering, just looking, feeling, and trying to distill something out of the urban chaos. In the end, it's up to us to find something in this photo: a story, a feeling, a question. Photography, like painting, is just a conversation, a dialogue through time.