Valencia, Spain 25 1952

Robert Frank created this photographic contact sheet in Valencia, Spain. Although untitled, this matrix of images gives us a glimpse into the artist's working process. Here, Frank’s selection and ordering of images, his use of highlighting and cropping, all help to convey meaning. Spain in this period was under the grip of Franco’s dictatorship. Established after a bloody civil war, it was a time of repression and censorship. Institutions like the press and the arts were carefully controlled. The contact sheet seems to comment on the social structures of its time. Images of military presence, stark landscapes, and everyday life offer a fragmented, yet critical view of Spanish society under authoritarian rule. Was Frank self-consciously progressive? Was he critiquing the institutions of art? To delve deeper, a historian could research Frank’s travels, his influences, and the socio-political context of Spain at the time. This could reveal how these factors shaped his vision, and to further appreciate the power of art to challenge existing social norms.