Man in station--Early New York City no number c. early 1950s

Robert Frank created this gelatin silver print, “Man in Station—Early New York City,” showing three strips of film against a dark background. Frank made a name for himself documenting America in the 1950s. His images often focused on the isolated individual against the backdrop of the city. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship which allowed him to travel around the United States taking photographs. He would shoot rolls and rolls of film, and then assemble them as a kind of visual diary. Here we get to see that process itself. The strips of film evoke the idea of a larger narrative, an entire roll of film, a day, a life, that we don’t have access to. Frank's photography was part of a broader artistic movement that questioned traditional values and celebrated individuality. Historians of photography look at his archives to better understand this period in American history. The meaning of art is always contingent on the social and institutional context in which it is made and viewed.