New York City no number 1947

This is an untitled piece from Robert Frank, made in New York City with black and white film. What I love about it is how Frank shoots a roll of film, and then presents it as a whole. This is such a good way to show the world the process of how photographs are made. These images, like all of Frank’s work, have a really unique texture. The grays are grainy and full of contrast, and the blacks are so deep that the surface of the photograph feels velvety. Look closely at the image of the buildings reflected in the puddle - the way the light glistens off the surface gives it a painterly quality, like a Turner seascape. Frank’s work reminds me a lot of Walker Evans, another artist who was interested in documenting the grit and reality of American life. Both artists share a love of ambiguity, of images that invite questions instead of providing answers.