Just a few notes from my visit several weeks ago, fading fast in memory.
The exhibit included several of Frank's proof sheets. One of them allows us to see Frank choosing between two versions of an image of a child capering down the street, while a hearse with an open door frames a dustman standing on the opposite pavement. The image he chose to print has the more pleasingly classical composition, with the child at the apex of a triangle formed by the hearse door.
The images of Wales coal miners are most effective where a harsh white accent breaks up the overall black and dark gray image: a slip of paper held by someone in a queue, a tea mug.
How wonderful to see a prefiguration of the famous New Orleans trolley car photograph! Here's it's a London omnibus, lit from within, with five windows and the strong predella-like element along the base of the image. The riders are wearing homburgs, and none looks out to meet our gaze.
A top-hatted banker in profile, in another street scene, a woman and a bus in the background, lit as sensitively as a studio portrait.
