Guggenheim 164/Lines of My Hand 75--Inauguration, Washington, D.C. 1957

This is “Guggenheim 164/Lines of My Hand 75--Inauguration, Washington, D.C.,” a photo strip made by Robert Frank. I love the way the images have been captured here, as if he’s thinking out loud with his camera, going back and forth between this and that: the street, a museum, faces in a crowd. You can see red marks made by a grease pencil on the film itself, pointing to an image he was either considering or cropping. I feel like Frank’s inviting us to peek into his mind. What was it like to be Frank, walking the streets of DC with his camera, looking, looking? Like he was trying to get at something he couldn’t quite see. Like a painter, layering on the paint, wiping it away, layering it on again. It’s like he’s in conversation with all the other photographers and artists who have walked the streets, trying to make sense of things. Making marks, making art, making meaning.