Ode to the Human Face

In September and October of 2004, Franck's exhibit of drawings, paintings and icons was on display at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Conn. Unlike other art books that are produced in tandem with an exhibit, this collection is affordable and portable, packaged in a pocket-sized paperback with starkly beautiful black-and-white photographs of Franck's artwork. The pieces are drawn from a 50-year span of Franck's observations of the human face, in all its absurdity and profound emotion. Franck writes that he sees his works as icons, or windows into the sacred: they are ""non-dogmatic reflections on That Which Matters."" The 95-year-old artist draws his powerful observations on human frailty from life; as a small child, he witnessed WWI being fought practically on his doorstep, and as an adult, he worked with Albert Schweitzer in Africa and drew portraits of hundreds of the prelates who participated in the Second Vatican Council. In these faces, Franck compassionately displays both the wonder and the terrible weakness of being human.