Peru 1948

Robert Frank took this photograph, in Peru. There is a very long wall which is a striking, dominant feature of the photo, and has captured the artist’s attention. The wall is divided in two, with a more textured lower half, and a smoother upper section, which stretches out of view. There is also a little street and some people, way in the background. I am curious about what Frank was thinking when he made this picture? Was he thinking about scale? What it means to be small? Or, was he interested in surface texture and the way that light hits these different surfaces? The shadows on the wall are amazing; they are cast by buildings further along the street, and are very present as abstract shapes. Frank’s genius lies in his ability to capture the mood of a place, and the emotional dimensions of a subject. All the great artists do that, don't they? They communicate something through the most basic means, a shadow, or a line.