SANTA PAULA : Photojournalist Praises Display of His Life Work

Famed photojournalist Horace Bristol surveyed a retrospective of his life’s work Sunday at the Santa Paula Union Oil Museum and watched as museum-goers marveled at the expressive faces he captured on film during decades of travel.

Appearing at the opening reception of the new exhibit, “Welcome Home Horace Bristol,” the 86-year-old former photographer for Life magazine answered questions, autographed picture books and greeted old friends.

“I am so pleased with what they have done here,” said Bristol, clad in a gray suit and navy blue beret. “I’ve had many other exhibits, but this one encompasses my entire life’s work.”

Most exhibitions highlight only a specific point in an artist’s career, he said.

Besides an array of Bristol’s works from his vast journeys, the museum’s tribute includes photographs that heretofore have existed only as negatives and have been printed and exhibited for the first time ever.

Bristol’s enduring--and most famous--images that he captured during his travels to central California with John Steinbeck are also on display. The worn Oklahoma farmers driven from the dust bowl would later inspire Steinbeck to write “The Grapes of Wrath.”

“This exhibit is a panoramic view of his [Bristol’s] life’s work,” museum administrator Mike Nelson said. “We wanted to recognize Horace for the contribution he has made to the arts, and as somewhat of a native we honor him as one of Santa Paula’s most famous residents.”

Now residing in Ojai, Bristol lived in Santa Paula from 1916 to 1925 and again during the Depression in 1932 and ’33. His first commercial photographs were shot in Santa Paula. These same portraits of children and others open the exhibit, which wends its way through the entire museum.

Lifelong Santa Paula resident Janette Romney recognized some of the faces in the section of the exhibit titled “Santa Paula Portraits.”

“I knew Horace when he was in grammar school,” said Romney, who is 83. “I have goose bumps looking at his pictures. You have a feeling you are getting a glimpse inside their souls.”

Bristol worked as a staff photographer for Life magazine from 1937 to 1942. His assignments took him across the United States and Canada. After World War II, Bristol worked for Fortune magazine, crisscrossing Australia and Asia through 1964. He later established a photographic agency in Tokyo where he continued to live for about 25 years and shot some of his favorite works, he said.

The Union Oil Museum exhibit will continue through Jan. 7. The museum is at 1001 E. Main St. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. For more information, call 933-0076.