On 11th Street NYC/Benny 1951

Robert Frank shot this on 11th Street in New York, sometime in the middle of last century. It's a photograph, so it's all about light and shadow, the way they define form and texture. What gets me is the contrast between the man, Benny, and the dolls he’s carrying. He looks like a craftsman, maybe a repairman, and the dolls are clearly broken, incomplete. Their blank stares and smooth surfaces are so different from Benny's weathered face and work clothes. There's a tenderness in the way he holds them, a kind of odd intimacy. Down at the bottom right there's a whole other doll leaning up against a column. It's like Frank is saying something about beauty, labor, and the city. You can’t pin it down, which is what I like about it. Think of Eugène Atget photographing shop fronts in Paris in the late 19th century, Frank takes that idea into a new era and a new continent. Art is always about exchange!