Horses--Farming 1941 - 1945

Robert Frank made this photograph of horses farming, but we don't know when. It’s small, almost a snapshot, and the surface has that slightly worn look of a well-loved print. I’m drawn to how the greys almost melt together. Look at the way the dark harnesses blend into the horses' coats, and how the field blurs into the background. The light is soft, giving everything a kind of hazy, dreamlike quality. It’s not sharp, but it's full of feeling. My eye keeps going back to the head of the horse on the right, bowed down to the earth. There’s something so powerful and melancholic in that gesture. Frank wasn't about capturing the perfect shot; he was about capturing a feeling, and about the beauty of the everyday. Think of someone like Walker Evans, who also understood that art is found in the overlooked corners of life.