Kinsley, Kansas Highway Sign — Todd Webb, 1956 (Estate Print 6/10)
Name/Title
Kinsley, Kansas Highway Sign — Todd Webb, 1956 (Estate Print 6/10)Entry/Object ID
554Tags
IconicDescription
This 10x10 inch archival pigment print depicts the famous highway sign in Kinsley, Kansas — the geographic midpoint of the United States — pointing simultaneously toward New York (1,561 miles) and San Francisco (1,561 miles). Photographed by Todd Webb in 1956 during his Guggenheim Fellowship cross-country journey, the image captures the vast prairie sky, telephone lines, and hand-lettered roadside signage that defined mid-century America's relationship with the open road. This is print 6 of a strictly limited edition of 10 — the only edition size and format that will ever be produced of this image. The negative came directly to the Todd Webb Archive from Webb's estate. The print was made in 2023 and bears the official Todd Webb Archive estate stamp, signed by E.E. Webb, confirming direct estate provenance. One print from this edition is permanently held by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. The remaining prints are with private collectors worldwide. Acquired directly from the Todd Webb Archive in December 2025 — the last available print at time of purchase. The collector first encountered this image in person at America and Other Myths: Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955, exhibited at the Addison Gallery of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, 2024 — the first exhibition to reunite Frank's iconic journey with Webb's parallel trip, whose photographs had been lost for over sixty years before being recovered from a basement in Oakland, California in 2016. The acquisition carries additional personal significance: Kinsley, Kansas is the planned destination of the collector's own middle-distance road journey, retracing Webb's 1956 route. This print is not just a historical artifact — it is a destination. Framed by Woodshed Art Services, Franklin, MA (established 1968), using premium Artglass UV-protective glazing. The original MFA Houston exhibition card is displayed alongside the print. Displayed in the studio alongside the Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar (Collection Entry #54, serial no. 2819275) — the same model and Carl Zeiss 75mm Planar lens Todd Webb used to make this photograph in 1956. Seventy years later, both the camera and the print have found the same home.Category
Photograph, Collectible