South of France--Trip to Spain A5 1949

Robert Frank created this contact sheet of black and white photographs, "South of France—Trip to Spain A5," at an unknown date. The images, apparently from France and Spain, are presented in the form of a photographic contact sheet. The contact sheet as a form, however, is one that is usually hidden from public view. Frank's choice to show the unedited sheet invites us to see photography as a process and suggests a critical view of the way photographs are conventionally displayed in galleries. Frank was working in a time of significant institutional change in photography, as museums, galleries, and universities began to take photography seriously as an art form. The meaning of the image is thus contingent on the historical context of its creation. To fully understand the image, we might consult a variety of archives, libraries, and other resources related to the history of photography and Robert Frank's place in that history.