Umbrellas, Paris 1951

Robert Frank made this photographic print, Umbrellas, Paris, probably in the late 20th century, with gelatin silver. There’s a real buzz about this image. The layering of umbrellas and people creates a very textured surface of tonal greys. I think it is just teeming with emotion, that Frank has found a way to record and share it so directly, just makes me want to paint. I sympathize with the artist, who must have been thinking about how the light changed when it rains. It has such a soft, diffused quality, yet it’s a high contrast image. I can imagine that Frank didn’t plan this, but was alert to it, and then, bam! He snagged it. The artist Robert Frank, like other artists, is in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring creativity in the viewer, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings.