Valley--Landscape 1941 - 1945

Robert Frank made this black and white photograph called “Valley—Landscape” at an unknown date. The high contrast image is cropped so that half the image is the bright white of the photo paper. I’m thinking about the gesture of that crop, how it almost erases the landscape! The lower half shows a valley with what looks like a village nestled in the hills. I wonder, what was Frank thinking when he made that cut? Maybe it was a comment on the romantic idea of landscape, chopping it up and presenting it back to us in pieces. The dark and light tones create a sense of drama. You get the feeling he wants you to see something specific, to consider this place in a certain light, and to also question the tradition of landscape photography. Artists don't work in a vacuum: they challenge each other across generations. Frank’s bold composition disrupts our expectations, prompting us to look closer and think deeper about what we see.