New York City, Wellfleet, Switzerland, and Early New York City 1951 - 1962

Robert Frank captured this contact sheet, "New York City, Wellfleet, Switzerland, and Early New York City," using film, a medium itself so full of chance, mistakes, and magic. Looking at these strips of negatives, I feel like I’m riffling through Frank’s mind. It makes me think about the cutting room floor. All the decisions artists make about what to show and what to leave out, and what gets seen by the public. There is a scene with haystacks in a field. I imagine Frank in the Swiss countryside, breathing the fresh air, composing the scene. And then these frames of gritty New York streets. It looks like he is in a car. I imagine him driving around, searching for these poignant, fleeting moments. And I think about the painter Fairfield Porter, who sought to capture the beauty of everyday life, just like Frank, finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. That's what artists do; they show us how to see.