Robert Frank, U.S. 285, New Mexico, 1958

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.

(via cargohoo)