Gordon Parks

(American, 1912–2006)

Gordon Parks was a self-taught photographer, writer, composer, and filmmaker. Parks is remembered as the first African-American photographer who worked for Vogue and Life magazines, known for his documentary photojournalism of the 1940s through the 1970s. He captured iconic images of the civil rights movement, investigating important turning points in inner cities around the United States. Along with these charged moments, he also captured candid portraits of artists and musicians including Helen Frankenthaler. “I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty,” he once said. Born on November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, KS, Parks grew up amidst the injustices of segregation and racist violence. He bought his first camera at the age of 25 at a Seattle pawnshop, and in 1940 moved to Chicago where he developed a portrait business. In 1948, his photographic essay on a Harlem gang leader earned Parks a job as a photographer for Life, where he continued to work until 1972. In addition to his photography, Parks also became a successful filmmaker, directing Shaft, one of the most successful movies of 1971. He also wrote the acclaimed book A Choice of Weapons (1966), a chronicle of his life journey as a photographer. Parks was awarded the American Society of Magazine Photographers’ Photographer of the Year in 1960, the Congress of Racial Equality Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000, as well as over 20 honorary doctorates. The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. acquired his archive in 1995. He died on March 7, 2006 in New York, NY. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Gordon Parks News

Gallery Network

Spotlight: A New Exhibition Looks Back at Gordon Parks’s Seminal Photography

by Artnet Gallery Network

Spotlight: A New Exhibition Looks Back at Gordon Parks’s Seminal Photography

Art & Exhibitions

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'National Geographic' Turned to a Photo Historian to Help Reckon With Its Colonialist Past. Even He Was Unsettled by What He Found

'National Geographic' Turned to a Photo Historian to Help Reckon With Its Colonialist Past. Even He Was Unsettled by What He Found

Gordon Parks Artworks

Gordon Parks (306 results)

Young child with doll (from the film The..., 1985

Gordon Parks

Young child with doll (from the film The..., 1985

Sale Date: May 15, 2008

Auction Closed

Untitled (Portrait of a woman), 1960–1975

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Portrait of a woman), 1960–1975

Sale Date: December 13, 2007

Auction Closed

Hilton Caribe in Puerto Rico, 1949

Gordon Parks

Hilton Caribe in Puerto Rico, 1949

Sale Date: June 7, 2007

Auction Closed

Young child with doll (from The Film The..., 1985

Gordon Parks

Young child with doll (from The Film The..., 1985

Sale Date: May 22, 2007

Auction Closed

Muslim women in Chicago

Gordon Parks

Muslim women in Chicago

Sale Date: December 2, 2006

Auction Closed

Sunday Morning, 1987

Gordon Parks

Sunday Morning, 1987

Sale Date: December 7, 2006

Auction Closed

Untitled (Abstraction), 1981

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Abstraction), 1981

Sale Date: December 7, 2006

Auction Closed

Self-Portrait, 1941

Gordon Parks

Self-Portrait, 1941

Sale Date: December 7, 2006

Auction Closed

Wooden privies, Southeast Section,..., 1942

Gordon Parks

Wooden privies, Southeast Section,..., 1942

Sale Date: October 19, 2006

Auction Closed

Woman in her home, Southwest Section,..., 1942

Gordon Parks

Woman in her home, Southwest Section,..., 1942

Sale Date: October 19, 2006

Auction Closed

Nude

Gordon Parks

Sale Date: September 15, 2006

Auction Closed

Ella Watson, American Gothic, 1942

Gordon Parks

Ella Watson, American Gothic, 1942

Sale Date: June 17, 2006

Auction Closed

Arturo Toscanini, postmortem, 1957

Gordon Parks

Arturo Toscanini, postmortem, 1957

Sale Date: May 22, 2006

Auction Closed

Children with doll, 1942

Gordon Parks

Children with doll, 1942

Sale Date: May 18, 2006

Auction Closed

Muhammad Ali after the Henry Cooper fight in , 1966

Gordon Parks

Muhammad Ali after the Henry Cooper fight in , 1966

Sale Date: May 26, 2006

Auction Closed

Ella Watson, 1942

Gordon Parks

Ella Watson, 1942

Sale Date: April 29, 2006

Auction Closed

Portrait of a man, 1963

Gordon Parks

Portrait of a man, 1963

Sale Date: March 5, 2006

Auction Closed

American Gothic (Ella Watson), Washington,..., 1942

Gordon Parks

American Gothic (Ella Watson), Washington,..., 1942

Sale Date: October 20, 2005

Auction Closed

Children with doll, 1942

Gordon Parks

Children with doll, 1942

Sale Date: October 18, 2005

Auction Closed

The Flavio story, 1963–1964

Gordon Parks

The Flavio story, 1963–1964

Sale Date: October 7, 2005

Auction Closed

Fashion, Paris, 1949

Gordon Parks

Fashion, Paris, 1949

Sale Date: October 7, 2005

Auction Closed

Untitled (3 mannequin legs), 1950

Gordon Parks

Untitled (3 mannequin legs), 1950

Sale Date: April 28, 2005

Auction Closed

Lighthouse, 1980–1989

Gordon Parks

Lighthouse, 1980–1989

Sale Date: December 7, 2004

Auction Closed

Alexander Calder, 1954

Gordon Parks

Alexander Calder, 1954

Sale Date: November 25, 2004

Auction Closed

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