Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats along the Way: The Paintings of John Baeder (Paperback)

by Jay Williams (Editor), Kevin Grogan (Preface), Donald Kuspit (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats along the Way surveys John Baeder's thirty-five-year obsession with roadside architecture especially, America's diners. The book derives from Baeder's Morris Museum of Art exhibit of the same name. Originally attracted to classic postcard images of mom-and-pop businesses and old black-and-white photos of downtowns, Baeder spent most of his art career depicting these beloved but unpretentious restaurants. Often classified as a photorealist, Baeder has always resisted being labeled. He sees his paintings as a plea for preservation and a way to reveal the psychology behind diners.

Before the era of corporate fast food, Americans on the road looked to diners to provide "meals like mother makes," a descriptive phrase found in Baeder's very first diner painting. Home cooking was especially appealing to weary tourists, who hit the American highway in increasing numbers between the 1920s and the 1960s. By the late 1970s Baeder's paintings had become wildly popular.

Baeder's paintings resonate in melodies of color and line, and exhibit their personalities through hand-lettered placards and neon signs. They invite the viewer to absorb the everyday simplicity of roadside architecture in new ways and to discover the values of hearth and home in unexpected places.

From the Publisher
This retrospective of a masterful artist's passion for an American roadside icon

---Summarizes Baeder's contribution to the world of contemporary art and interprets his work in a fresh context
---Presents Baeder's art as a way of understanding important expressions of popular architecture
---Provides the only book currently in print that is specifically focused on Baeder's art
---Offers approximately 100 full-color photographs of oils and watercolors

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934110221
• ISBN-13: 978-1934110225
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #505,259 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars JOHN BAEDER'S AMERICA, January 18, 2008

By	David Chesanow (Olympia, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

For 30 years, Atlanta-born artist John Baeder has been known for his atmospheric depictions of diners, which were disappearing from American highways and byways when Baeder began painting them in the '70s; in fact, many of Baeder's subjects are buildings in various stages of deterioration (plenty of metaphor there!). Over the year, "roadside retro" since become a subject that resonates not just with collectors but the American public in general. As for diners, those icons of the American road they have resurged big-time, at least in the Northeast (albeit in gltizy, supersize versions), for an eating public hungry for nostalgia.
We can give most of the credit to Baeder for both trends.
The University Press of Mississippi's "Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats Along the Way: The Paintings of John Baeder" is a good survey of Baeder's work that includes not only his newer diner images but lots of lesser-known gems, such as his paintings of Los Angeles taco trucks.
The book is a knockout, although bigger would have been better: As devotees of Baeder's work are aware, he's done a lot of fantastic images yet unpublished in book form. Nonetheless, "Pleasant Journeys" will definitely hook the uninitiated; "roadside" devotees, who know him well, will find even more to appreciate. I guarantee: Leave this book on your desk in your office wheere your coworkers can see it, or in your living room when guests are over, and it will be picked up and passed around in no time flat.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book for lovers of representational art and modern American Culture, March 25, 2008

By	Steven E. Frenkel - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

John Baeder is one of the most talented artists to come out of the photo-realist school of the 1960's. This volume is a survey of his painting career and catalogs a current traveling museum show that will be in Asheville, NC this summer and in his home town of Nashville, TN in December. Anyone who is interested in the built landscape of the 20th Century, masterful painting or Diners and their history, will truly treasure this volume. It's just interesting on a number of different levels from history to architecture to our social culture to art. It's a very nicely made paper cover book and is quite reasonably priced.