AA-2026-5AE481
On the image
In the 1950s, the American husband discovered fire — specifically, the brick outdoor barbecue pit, which he built or had built as proof that weekend leisure was serious business requiring permanent masonry. This man in a white undershirt stands before a chest-high brick structure with visible flames climbing behind it, the smoke rising into the suburban tree canopy in a way that suggests the fire is considerably larger than it needs to be for cooking purposes. The chaise longue on the lawn nearby indicates that someone else at this gathering has correctly identified their role as spectator, a division of labor that would persist through every backyard cookout for the next seventy years. He looks at the camera with the expression of a man who is in charge of something and knows it. The brick pit behind him is the kind of fixture that took a full weekend to build and outlasted two sets of owners before someone in the 1980s finally put up a deck over it.
Visually related — by likeness
Backyard Barbecue with Brick Pit, American Suburbs, 1950s. 1950–1959. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-5AE481. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/backyard-barbecue-with-brick-pit-american-suburbs-1950s.
@misc{aaAA20265AE481,
title = {Backyard Barbecue with Brick Pit, American Suburbs, 1950s},
year = {1950–1959},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-5AE481},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/backyard-barbecue-with-brick-pit-american-suburbs-1950s}
}TY - ART TI - Backyard Barbecue with Brick Pit, American Suburbs, 1950s PY - 1950–1959 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-5AE481 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/backyard-barbecue-with-brick-pit-american-suburbs-1950s ER -
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