Stimulated by a recent measurement of coherent control in photoionization of atomic barium, we have calculated one- and two-photon ionization cross sections of the aligned
6s6p 1P1 state of barium in the energy range between the
5d3/2 and
5d5/2 states of
Ba+. We have also measured these photoionization spectra in the same energy region, driving the one- or two-photon processes with the second or first harmonic of a tunable dye laser, respectively. Our calculations employ the eigenchannel
R-matrix method and multichannel quantum defect theory to calculate the rich array of autoionizing resonances in this energy range. The nonresonant two-photon process is described using lowest-order perturbation theory for the photon-atom interactions, with a discretized intermediate-state one-electron continuum. The calculations provide an absolute normalization for the experiment, and they accurately reproduce the rich resonance structures in both the one- and two-photon cross sections, and confirm other aspects of the experimental observations. These results demonstrate the ability of these computationally inexpensive methods to reproduce experimental observables in one- and two-photon ionization of heavy alkaline earths, and they lay the groundwork for future studies of the phase-controlled interference between one- and two-photon ionization processes.