AUGUSTA, Ga. -- "Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats along the Way: A Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by John Baeder," the first major traveling exhibition solely devoted to the work of this important contemporary realist, is open to the public through March 9, 2008, at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Ga.

Organized by Morris Museum of Art curator Jay Williams, the exhibition includes 40 of Baeder's painstakingly rendered oils and watercolors, spanning the period 1974-2004, documenting the roadside eateries he reveres -- diners, taco trucks and barbecue dives. His depiction of them captures the pulse of America in a bygone era.

After its premier at the Morris Museum, the exhibition will travel to the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, where it will be on view in March and April 2008; the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, N.C., July through October 2008; and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, Tenn., December 2008 through January 2009.

"Pleasant Journeys" exhibition is accompanied by a fully color-illustrated book, "Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats along the Way: The Paintings of John Baeder." Co-published by the Morris Museum of Art and the University Press of Mississippi, it includes essays by Dr. Donald Kuspit, one of the leading critical voices in contemporary American art, and Williams; a preface by Morris Museum director Kevin Grogan; and a statement by the artist. The book is available through the Morris Museum of Art store.

The Morris Museum of Art is the oldest and largest museum in the country devoted to the art and artists of the American South. It is open to the public Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

For more information, call 706-724-7501 or visit www.themorris.org.

Special to The T&D

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