U.S. 285, New Mexico
Robert Frank American, born Switzerland
Not on view
This photograph belongs to the series Frank made and published in his great book Les Américans (1958)--an unvarnished look at this country as it revealed itself to the Swiss-born photographer on a series of road trips he made in 1955 and 1956, funded by Guggenheim fellowships. The quintessential evocation of life on the road, this image is both dynamic and solemn; the lines of the highway plunging toward the glowing horizon create a sense of movement, while the car of a lone traveler--barely visible at the top of the image--and the vast emptiness of the desolate New Mexico landscape communicate a powerful sense of isolation.
