Bus 2A 1955

Robert Frank's "Bus 2A" presents a strip of black and white celluloid, preserving a sequence of street scenes. It offers a glimpse into the everyday life of post-war America. Frank, a Swiss immigrant, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955 to photograph the United States. This work is most likely a contact sheet of images produced from this period. The contact sheet presents the raw product of Frank’s labor, prior to any institutional intervention. It gives us a birds-eye view of the artist’s choices. It also gives insight into the socio-economic forces that shape a photographer's vision. Frank's outsider status allowed him to capture the nuances of American society, often revealing the stark realities of segregation, poverty, and social alienation that were frequently overlooked in mainstream media. To fully understand Frank's work, one might delve into the archives of institutions like the Guggenheim Foundation, and examine the cultural discourse around documentary photography in the mid-20th century. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.