Guggenheim 436--Los Angeles 1955 - 1956

This is an untitled photographic work by Robert Frank, capturing scenes from Los Angeles. It's made from a contact sheet, a direct print from the negative, showing multiple frames at once. The contact sheet is a very particular object, usually intended for the photographer's eyes only. It's a tool to assess the images, not usually the final presentation. It shows the raw material of photography: celluloid film, a flexible plastic coated with light-sensitive emulsion. When exposed to light in the camera, and then developed, it captures a negative image. Printing these negatives requires darkroom work, a tradition of creative practice and aesthetics. By presenting the contact sheet as the final work, Frank draws our attention to the labor of image-making. It captures the feel of American life, with a critical edge, but it also demystifies the photographic process. It challenges the idea of the perfect, singular image. Instead, it is about the accumulation of moments, the flow of experience, and the many choices that a photographer makes. This approach expands the boundaries of traditional art history.