California Plain: Remembering Barns

by Morley Baer, Patrick Jablonski, Bright Eastland

Widely acknowledged as the leading architectural photographer of Northern California, the late Morley Baer had an enduring passion for photographing barns, which he began doing in the 1950s. This book makes available fine-arts quality prints of sixty-eight extraordinary black-and-white photographs of California barns, those often ghostly but comforting shapes in a grassy pasture we glimpse as we fly down the freeway at seventy miles an hour. The photographs also serve as a documentary record of a once common and now vanishing element of the landscape of California and the West. What is it about an old barn that wrenches a heartfelt pang from us today? Why do we photograph them, visualize them in their prime, and voice strenuous objections when new developments threaten to wipe them away? For many of us, abandoned farm structures are the focus of romantic reverie, an evocation of our agrarian roots, inviting us back to what we imagine must have been simpler, less complicated lives. A vision of life on the farm conjures a sense of wholesomeness and hard work, tillers of the soil taming the wild land as the American way of life moved West. Enjoyment of the superb photographs will be deepened by Bright Eastman’s colorful discussion of the history and various roles and styles of barns, as well as by the description by Patrick Jablonski―Morley Baer’s last assistant―of how Baer took pictures, developed his negatives, and printed them.

120 pages, Hardcover

First published June 12, 2002

About the author

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Reviews

[Ichor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The American Midwest demands more attention than any other region when it comes to the vernacular architecture of agriculture, but as this photographic collection by Morley Baer illuminates, the state of California offers an equally-worthy case study. Bright Eastman's detailed introduction vividly situates Baer's subjects in the rich vernacular tradition of Californian farming, from the Spanish and Mexican ranchos of the 18th century to the post-Gold Rush farming boom and beyond.

[Flossie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been reading about barns lately for a work project. It's been surprisingly hard to find published works on western barns.. most of the lit out there seems to focus on the North Atlantic region or the Midwest. So I picked this up-

but it was really more a celebration of the photographer Morley Baer than a celebration of barns. The first (of three) essays was the only one to discuss architecture and it was terrible, terrible, terrible.

However, the photos were nice to flip through. There was a good one of the barn in Wilder State Park. I always liked that barn- glad it's been documented.