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

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Triumph as Art World 'Giants'

by Min Chen
Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz Triumph as Art World 'Giants'
Politics

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

by Ben Davis
'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

Artworks for Sale &
Auction Results

Gordon Parks (306 results)
Mother and Child in a Bar, Blind River,..., 1950

Gordon Parks

Mother and Child in a Bar, Blind River,..., 1950

Sale Date: October 5, 2023

Auction Closed

Red Jackson, 1948

Gordon Parks

Red Jackson, 1948

Sale Date: October 5, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled (Shady Grove, Alabama), 1956

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Shady Grove, Alabama), 1956

Sale Date: October 5, 2023

Auction Closed

Children with Doll, Washington, D.C., 1942

Gordon Parks

Children with Doll, Washington, D.C., 1942

Sale Date: October 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Music - That Lordly Power, 1993

Gordon Parks

Music - That Lordly Power, 1993

Sale Date: October 6, 2023

Auction Closed

James Galanos Fashion, Hollywood, California, 1961

Gordon Parks

James Galanos Fashion, Hollywood, California, 1961

Sale Date: October 6, 2023

Auction Closed

American Gothic, Washington D.C. [Ella..., 1942

Gordon Parks

American Gothic, Washington D.C. [Ella..., 1942

Sale Date: May 2, 2023

Auction Closed

Emerging Man, Harlem, New York, 1952

Gordon Parks

Emerging Man, Harlem, New York, 1952

Sale Date: April 4, 2023

Auction Closed

Untitled (Portrait of an unidentified..., 1950

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Portrait of an unidentified..., 1950

Sale Date: February 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Music--That Lordly Power., 1993

Gordon Parks

Music--That Lordly Power., 1993

Sale Date: February 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Farm Security Administration/Office of War..., 1943

Gordon Parks

Farm Security Administration/Office of War..., 1943

Sale Date: January 11, 2023

Auction Closed

New York Farm Security Administration (three , 1943

Gordon Parks

New York Farm Security Administration (three , 1943

Sale Date: December 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman..., 1943

Gordon Parks

Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman..., 1943

Sale Date: November 9, 2022

Auction Closed

Collected Works.

Gordon Parks

Collected Works.

Sale Date: October 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Gordon Parks

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Sale Date: October 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Mrs. Ella Watson with three grandchildren..., 1942

Gordon Parks

Mrs. Ella Watson with three grandchildren..., 1942

Sale Date: October 12, 2022

Auction Closed

American Gothic, Washington D.C., 1942

Gordon Parks

American Gothic, Washington D.C., 1942

Sale Date: October 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Farm Security Administration..., 1942–1943

Gordon Parks

Farm Security Administration..., 1942–1943

Sale Date: October 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Un couple élégant en tenues de soirées pour..., 1958

Gordon Parks

Un couple élégant en tenues de soirées pour..., 1958

Sale Date: September 22, 2022

Auction Closed

Mannequin avec un foulard de nurse dans un..., 1952

Gordon Parks

Mannequin avec un foulard de nurse dans un..., 1952

Sale Date: September 22, 2022

Auction Closed

Deux sculptures de plâtre réalisées par..., 1951

Gordon Parks

Deux sculptures de plâtre réalisées par..., 1951

Sale Date: September 22, 2022

Auction Closed

L'actrice Ingrid Bergman suscite la..., 1949

Gordon Parks

L'actrice Ingrid Bergman suscite la..., 1949

Sale Date: September 22, 2022

Auction Closed

Farm Security Administration/Office of War..., 1943

Gordon Parks

Farm Security Administration/Office of War..., 1943

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

untitled, Fulton Fish Market, 1940

Gordon Parks

untitled, Fulton Fish Market, 1940

Sale Date: August 27, 2022

Auction Closed

English (US)

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