Guggenheim 115/Americans 17--Jay, New York 4 - 1954

This is Robert Frank’s contact sheet for “Americans 17--Jay, New York” – a grid of small black and white images with red grease pencil marks. It’s like looking into the artist’s mind at work. I can imagine Frank holding the magnifying glass, peering at these tiny frames, trying to decide which one makes the cut. Photography isn't painting, but it's also a conversation between the artist and the world. Each frame is a little experiment: composition, light, timing. You can see him circling the frames with a red pen – not a brush – editing, cropping, deciding. There are a lot of flags here. It makes me think about how artists edit and change their minds, how the final artwork isn't always the first idea. Contact sheets like this are about Frank’s process, but also about life's possibilities and mistakes, like when you over-stretch a painting and realize you can work with that mistake. That's what he's doing with the flags in this sheet. It's all an ongoing conversation.