A Retrospective of Paintings by John Baeder

Friday, July 11 - Sunday, October 26, 2008

Appleby Foundation Gallery

Before the era of fast food, American travelers 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 took to the American highway in increasing numbers between the 1920s and the 1960s.

Baeder’s paintings capture items and events once commonplace that have now almost disappeared. With hand-lettered placards, neon signs, old cars and polished chrome, these images invite the viewer to absorb the simplicity of roadside architecture and discover the values of hearth and home in unexpected places.

While growing up, he lived with his parents, grandparents and sister in the Biltmore Hotel, Atlanta, GA. Baeder claims his earliest memory of a diner was at age 5 during World War II. 

After becoming the director of a large advertising agency, Baeder began collecting American postcards from the 1920s to the 1940s. Upon realizing his attraction had to do with the angles and composition of the photographs, he spent hours studying the postcards and later decided to paint images based on those postcards.

In 1972, Baeder began making black and white paintings and became increasingly entranced with details. He painted his first color painting in 1974 and has continued to create brilliant images of diners ever since.

John Baeder currently lives and works in Nashville, TN. His work has been featured in one-man and group exhibitions throughout the United States. His work is in the permanent collections of many corporations and institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, High Museum of Art, Yale University, Rhode Island School of Design and the Coca-Cola Company.

This exhibition is organized by the Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, GA.

Image credit:

John Baeder
Blue Beacon, Newark, NJ, 1980
Oil on canvas, 42 x 66 inches
Courtesy of Alice A. Zimmerman

Related programs:

Opening reception
Friday, July 11, 5:00 p.m.

John Cobb Piano Performance
Special concert, Sunday, July 13

ARTmob Movies @ the Rhino: Pulp Fiction
ARTmob film screening, Friday, August 1

Film screening, Sandwiches That You Will Like
Free movie at the Museum, Saturday + Sunday, July 12 +13

Art Break, Docent led tour of exhibition
Friday, August 1, 12:00 p.m.

Film screening, Diner
Free movie at the Museum, Saturday + Sunday, August 9 +10 

How to Doo Wop with Richard Stokes, Stokes Architecture
Up for Discussion lecture, Friday, August 29