Guggenheim 763--New York City 1956

This is Guggenheim 763--New York City, by Robert Frank. It’s a gelatin silver print showing a collection of black and white frames like a film strip. I can just imagine Frank walking around New York City with his camera, noticing fleeting moments and intriguing juxtapositions, and snapping away. I feel like he’s trying to capture the soul of the city, one frame at a time. Each frame feels like a little poem, a visual haiku. The composition reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter’s “Atlas,” where he collected and arranged photographs to explore different ways of seeing and documenting the world. Both artists use photography as a way to investigate the relationship between reality and representation. Frank’s work is such a reminder of the power of photography to capture not just what’s there, but also how we feel about what’s there.