another book of southern images…this one by clarence john laughlin.
made in the late 40′s, these poetic images are of plantations, privies, dovecotes, gravesites, and other places. many are strewn with spanish moss, and some feature laughlin’s signature surrealist touches: the use of double negatives or ‘spirits’ wandering the sites.
the book has great words and stories about each place in words written by the photographer himself:
“Ruin opened its iron mouth, and laughed…over the altar of so much dead beauty…It is the face that hangs over [this] world…”
I am from Brisbane, Australia. My father, who taught architecture at the University of Queensland, had this book over 60 years ago. It was lost when the Brisbane River flooded in 1974. It is so lovely to see this old book once more. I remember one old home in the book whose architecture was described as “Steamboat Gothic”. I wonder – now – how many of those old homes are still standing. They would be worth restoring because of the enduring materials used, surviving floods, the Civil War and the elements.
The Internet is an amazing place to visit – if you know where to look. And it is so refreshing to learn that this book is still available. I know there was a reprint of it in the early 1980′s, but my father had the original book.
Hopefully some of these old plantation mansions still exist and are able to be restored.
Roma D. Drysdale
i just visited my family in charleston and these photos are reminding me of my trip. have you ever visited the aiken rhett house. it has been preserved but not restored and it’s so amazing.