Zürich (Zurich) 13-24 1942 - 1946

Robert Frank shot "Zürich 13-24" as a contact sheet, a sequence of small, black and white photographs, a kind of visual diary, laid out on a single sheet. The grainy texture and the tonal range, that spans from deep blacks to soft grays, gives it a raw, immediate feel, like a series of fleeting thoughts. Looking at the arrangement, it reminds me of a sketchbook page, where each image is a study, a note. Check out number 23, that has some dark shapes in the foreground, like a shadowy figure lurking at the edge of the frame, an interruption, maybe a mistake. Frank isn't afraid to show us the process, the behind-the-scenes of seeing. There's a loose, improvisational quality that's reminiscent of other photographers of that era, like Garry Winogrand, where the act of shooting feels like a way of thinking. The series captures the feeling that art embraces ambiguity.