Hershey story 10 1956

Curator: This is "Hershey Story 10," a 1956 gelatin silver print by Robert Frank. What strikes you immediately about this contact sheet? Editor: Well, initially it evokes a strong sense of nostalgia, even for a time before my own. The grainy black and white amplifies a feeling of witnessing a bygone era, but I also note a slightly detached perspective. Curator: Indeed. Frank, though part of the Seven and Five Society deeply embedded in artistic and cultural currents, aimed to capture everyday life with brutal honesty. What we see is his record of the Hershey factory, reflecting the intersection of industry, labor, and consumption of a well-known brand, a brand linked so closely to childhood, I might add. Editor: Yes, that interplay between innocence and the mechanics of capitalism resonates strongly. The sequencing feels like a narrative, or rather, a set of fragmented narratives. Children figure prominently here, either as workers, I assume, or witnesses, their faces framed within the industrial landscape. It creates an unnerving juxtaposition. Curator: His series on the Hershey chocolate factory offers a glimpse into the machinery and the human element within. His exploration reveals not just a process of production, but hints at labor practices, and it subtly addresses the commodification of desire. Consider how the chocolate represents not merely a product but a potent cultural symbol—of comfort, pleasure, and indulgence. Editor: Thinking about it, this presentation as a contact sheet, offers such incredible insight into Frank’s mind; and more broadly I see echoes of anxieties from post-war America - ideas around labour and consumption, family structures and the kind of innocence he was interested in revealing through such imagery. He captures those tensions brilliantly. Curator: It does invite you to consider this brand and the social history that helped build a nation and that exists up until our contemporary moment. It is certainly an artwork I could ponder and reflect upon much longer, to truly begin unpacking its meaning. Editor: I agree completely; the social dynamics that Robert Frank has brought to light here have provided an incredibly powerful perspective on a slice of twentieth-century America and its continued effect upon today's society.