Guggenheim 161--Inauguration, Washington, D.C. 1957

This is Robert Frank’s photographic contact sheet, showing outtakes from the Inauguration in Washington, D.C. It's a fascinating grid of moments, captured and arranged in a sequence, like a storyboard. I imagine Frank, hunched over in his darkroom, magnifying glass in hand, sifting through these frames. What was he looking for? What caught his eye? The way the light hits the Capitol building, circled in red? The casual posture of the people? Each frame offers a slightly different perspective, a variation on a theme. It reminds me of my own process in painting – layering, erasing, and building up the surface until something unexpected emerges. The repetition and variation create a rhythm, a visual poem about a specific time and place. Frank wasn't just documenting an event; he was composing a feeling. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the stories behind each image and the choices the artist made?