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March 14, 2007
Lighting Out For The Territory
I just finished the first section of Slide Show (my next show over at Square America). It's not linked up over there yet but you can see it here. It's called Lighting Out for the Territory: The Road Trip Photos of Martin Johnson. From the late 1950's through the early 1970s Martin C. Johnson took a number of road trips criss-crossing the country from his home in Suburban Chicago to both coasts and all points in between. For each trip he put together a slide show to document his travels. Judging from these shows he (and his wife who must be responsible for at least some of the photographs) was far more interested in the road itself than wherever his final destination might have been. For every photograph of Mount Rushmore or The Grand Canyon there were three or four shots of the empty (or not so empty) road taken through the windshield of the car. For every shot of friends and relatives visited there were two of the motels he stayed in on the way. In doing so Johnson has left behind an invaluable record of the golden age of auto travel- an era when the new interstate highway system had opened up the country but before the development it brought had homogenized it.
Here are just a few of the 75+ photos in the show.
For more info and photos by Martin Johnson click here. I think the 70 or so carousels of his slides that I was able to buy as a lot was the single best purchase I've made in ten years of collecting.
Posted by nick at March 14, 2007 12:26 AM
Comments
Just when I think Square America can't get any better, you post these Martin Johnson slides. Captivating! Many are really little works of art. Thank you; please post 'em all.
Posted by: Jeannie at March 14, 2007 05:03 PM