Times Square--New York City 19 c. 1961

Robert Frank’s ‘Times Square--New York City 19’ offers us a peek into his photographic process through a contact sheet, a direct print of the negatives. Frank, a Swiss immigrant, captured America in the 1950s with a stark, unromantic lens. This contact sheet encapsulates the energy of Times Square, featuring fragmented moments – portraits, reflections, and street scenes. It invites us to consider Frank's gaze as an outsider. His work often touched on themes of social alienation and the undercurrents of American life, diverging from the glossy optimism typically portrayed at the time. "The eye should learn to listen before it looks," Frank once said, and here, we witness his eye in action. This sheet, a map of moments, underscores that photography is as much about selection as it is about capturing. What do you hear when you look? What does this selection tell us about the stories Frank wanted to tell about America, and about himself?