Movie premiere—Hollywood 1956

Robert Frank's photograph, "Movie premiere—Hollywood," shows us a bunch of people at a movie premiere. I can imagine Frank out on the street with his camera on a dark, rainy night. It's like he's trying to show us something about fame and how people look up to these movie stars. The picture has this real gritty, grainy quality that feels like it’s capturing the mood of the night, not just what things look like. You know, the umbrellas and the lights reflecting off the wet streets, it’s all there but it’s also kind of blurry and uncertain. I think Frank was really good at noticing the little things that say something bigger about society. His work reminds me a bit of Walker Evans, but with more of a personal feel, more melancholy. It makes you think about what’s real and what’s just for show, and how artists help us see the world in a new way.