"Vogue" women--New York City 10 1952 - 1953

Curator: This is "Vogue women--New York City 10", a gelatin silver print created by Robert Frank between 1952 and 1953. Editor: Oh, interesting! It’s… a collection of moments, almost like a storyboard. The high contrast is immediately striking, all those long shadows... It gives this feeling of being slightly off-kilter, a little unnerving. Curator: That disquieting feeling, I think, comes from the way Frank captures fleeting moments of urban life. It's not posed, it’s raw. I would like to connect the dots between his personal history, escaping Nazi Germany, and the feeling of searching, longing, that imbues his photographic essay, *The Americans*. The artist used the visual diary as his medium to capture personal experiences. Editor: I can see that. The shadows are particularly dominant; they seem to stretch and distort reality. You mentioned the fleeting moments and they convey how these silhouetted figures symbolize the alienation inherent in capitalist structures... This resonates even more powerfully considering it was published post-war and it is also an inquiry on race, gender, and class. What do you make of the red markings? Curator: I suppose those red markings serve as windows into Frank’s editing process. There are about forty images on this one print. By including this printing proof sheet into a finalized piece he suggests he did not choose only one frame that meets an expectation of formal excellence or beauty but he considers the sum of its parts instead. To me it's evidence that this photographic collage is far more like poetry and free expression than a composed landscape. Editor: I agree that those traces reveal a certain deliberate artistic gesture. I feel, thinking of urban experiences in general, one finds oneself constantly curating what is relevant for daily navigation and what to omit… Curator: True. Thank you. I think paying closer attention to Frank's work always pulls me back into the density and speed of life. Editor: Definitely, there's an underlying commentary on surveillance and power structures, especially relevant now. These “Vogue women” become spectres in a city that doesn't belong to them. Curator: What a resonant note. It brings it all home. Thank you for this thoughtful, grounded conversation.