New York City no number c. early 1950s

Curator: What strikes me immediately about this gelatin silver print, "New York City no number" by Robert Frank, created around the early 1950s, is how much information is packed onto a single surface. Editor: It's a chaotic collage, but there's a haunting, melancholic mood, almost like fragmented memories caught on film. The cityscape scenes, the people glimpsed in windows—they evoke a sense of urban isolation. Curator: Indeed, and thinking about Frank's working process, using a 35mm Leica, a relatively small and inconspicuous camera for the time, allowed him to capture candid moments with a degree of immediacy. This film strip assemblage foregrounds the material process. We're presented with evidence of production. Editor: I am drawn to the repeated motif of windows and reflections. They serve as symbolic barriers, literally framing the subjects, but also hinting at the psychological distance between individuals within a bustling city. We're seeing people, but not really connecting with them. Curator: Precisely, and consider how Frank deliberately includes the edges of the film strip, the frame numbers and maker's marks, and so forth. These are usually discarded. Frank incorporates these material aspects of the production into the final image. It questions the supposed transparency of photography. Editor: And these aren’t picture-postcard images. The graininess, the high contrast... Frank isn’t trying to glamorize New York. Instead, the symbols that usually constitute New York—like industry and wealth—are undermined. There is a more human undercurrent. It almost demythologizes it. Curator: Which challenges the tradition of straight photography prevalent at that time. The way the negative is incorporated asks the viewer to think about what images get consumed, and in what contexts. Editor: Looking again at those fragmented windows, it feels like Frank is inviting us to interpret New York as a city of constant negotiation with modernism. A very unique and potent interpretation through symbolic imagery. Curator: Agreed. Considering his techniques alongside his vision enriches the final piece. It’s a testament to his methods and challenges conventional artistic practices and modes of consumption. Editor: Absolutely, and for me, it reiterates the timelessness of his melancholic vision—resonating with anyone who’s ever felt a sense of disconnectedness amidst the crowds.