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)
Ethel Sharrieff (de la série Black Muslims). , 1963

Gordon Parks

Ethel Sharrieff (de la série Black Muslims). , 1963

Sale Date: November 13, 2021

Auction Closed

Isabel da Silva (de la série Flavio). Rio de , 1961

Gordon Parks

Isabel da Silva (de la série Flavio). Rio de , 1961

Sale Date: November 13, 2021

Auction Closed

De la série Gloucester Fishermen., 1943

Gordon Parks

De la série Gloucester Fishermen., 1943

Sale Date: November 13, 2021

Auction Closed

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Gordon Parks

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Sale Date: October 21, 2021

Auction Closed

Poverty, Mother and child, Puerto Rico, 1949

Gordon Parks

Poverty, Mother and child, Puerto Rico, 1949

Sale Date: October 21, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled (Self-Portrait), 1979

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Self-Portrait), 1979

Sale Date: October 7, 2021

Auction Closed

American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1970

Gordon Parks

American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1970

Sale Date: October 7, 2021

Auction Closed

Untitled (Chicago, Illinois), 1963

Gordon Parks

Untitled (Chicago, Illinois), 1963

Sale Date: October 5, 2021

Auction Closed

Group of 5 Photographs of Black Americans in...

Gordon Parks

Group of 5 Photographs of Black Americans in...

Sale Date: August 11, 2021

Auction Closed

Black American History (5 works)

Gordon Parks

Black American History (5 works)

Sale Date: May 12, 2021

Auction Closed

Bessie Fontenelle and Children at Welfare..., 1968

Gordon Parks

Bessie Fontenelle and Children at Welfare..., 1968

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Red Jackson, Harlem, New York, 1948

Gordon Parks

Red Jackson, Harlem, New York, 1948

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Gordon Parks

Muhammad Ali, 1966

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Emerging Man, Harlem, 1952

Gordon Parks

Emerging Man, Harlem, 1952

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Sunday Morning, 1947

Gordon Parks

Sunday Morning, 1947

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Mrs. Lucky Jefferson of Fort Scott, Kansas, 1948

Gordon Parks

Mrs. Lucky Jefferson of Fort Scott, Kansas, 1948

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Pool Hall in Fort Scott, Kansas, 1949

Gordon Parks

Pool Hall in Fort Scott, Kansas, 1949

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

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

Gordon Parks

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

Sale Date: June 29, 2020

Auction Closed

Group of 5 Farm Security Administration..., 1943

Gordon Parks

Group of 5 Farm Security Administration..., 1943

Sale Date: January 13, 2021

Auction Closed

Music-That Lordly Power, 1993

Gordon Parks

Music-That Lordly Power, 1993

Sale Date: January 6, 2021

Auction Closed

Surimpression d’images pour obtenir une..., 1958

Gordon Parks

Surimpression d’images pour obtenir une..., 1958

Sale Date: November 14, 2020

Auction Closed

Glenn Gould enregistre Bach sur un piano à..., 1956

Gordon Parks

Glenn Gould enregistre Bach sur un piano à..., 1956

Sale Date: November 14, 2020

Auction Closed

Sculpture squelettique de Giacometti dans..., 1951

Gordon Parks

Sculpture squelettique de Giacometti dans..., 1951

Sale Date: November 14, 2020

Auction Closed

Place de la Concorde., 1951

Gordon Parks

Place de la Concorde., 1951

Sale Date: November 14, 2020

Auction Closed

English (US)

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