Paris 47B 1951 - 1952

Robert Frank made "Paris 47B," sometime around then, with film, of course. I think of it as a study in sequencing, where each frame is a mark, carefully considered, like in painting. The texture is grainy, and the contrast high. It feels raw, immediate. Look at the sequence showing the subway platform; the way he captures the light reflecting off the polished surfaces, it’s almost like he's painting with light. It's physical. You can almost smell the stale air of the underground. The blue markings, scrawled across the frames, function as a painter's notations, a crucial part of the process, not usually visible in the finished work. Frank reminds me of Walker Evans, but with more grit, less formality. Both were looking at America, and at Europe, with a critical eye. And like all great art, Frank's photographs embrace ambiguity. They leave space for us, the viewers, to bring our own experiences and interpretations to the table.