Guggenheim 320--Chattanooga and Memphis, Tennessee 1955

This is a sheet of contact prints by Robert Frank, probably from the 1950s or 60s. It’s this matrix of almost-glimpses, a sequence of cityscapes, people, and commercial life. I think about Frank walking around, his eye and mind alert, working fast, not trying to make perfect pictures. He’s just trying to catch something, trying to feel something. It's like a painter with a loaded brush, or a sculptor handling clay. He's trying to work out something bigger than just one image, or one feeling, or one idea. He uses the camera to find out what he thinks, and what he wants to say. I love that Frank took photos of photo strips, making his own work visible as a process; it's like he's saying, “Look, this is how I work; it's all there in front of you.” To see the marks of his method laid bare inspires me to keep going, and to trust the process. This openness is how artists help each other; we’re always in conversation.