Gordon Parks - Renaissance Man
Born Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks November 30, 1912, Gordon Parks defined himself and his life when he said that freedom was the theme of all of his work...not allowing anyone to set boundaries, cutting loose the imagination and then making the new horizons.Parks is justifiably one of our most famous black photographers. He has often been called the Renaissance man for his prolific activism, filmmaking, photography, musical compositions, writings, poetry and his many firsts. He was the first African American to work at Life magazine, and the first to write, direct, and score a Hollywood film.
Ella Watson - An American Gothic
Ironically a photo that he considered inferior catapulted him into the limelight.
Ella Watson worked on the cleaning crew at the Farm Security Administration in Washington D.C. Parks was incensed at the blatant discrimination and color-caste system in the United States capital in the 1940's. He posed Ella in front of an American Flag with a broom and a mop in a satire of Grant Wood's oil painting entitled, An American Gothic, 1942. The public got the message, and the photograph has remained as an enduring reminder of American discrimination.
CLICK HERE for an intriguing 1998 interview with Gordon Parks.
Photographic Foundation
Of An Artistic Giant
Parks was not an early bloomer like Ansel Adams
His fascination with photography began at the age of 25. But as with Ansel it began with a brownie camera.A fortunate meeting with Marva Louis, wife of the famous boxer, Joe Louis, led him to open a successful portrait studio in Chicago. Although he enjoyed photographing Marva's society friends, his heart went out to the downtrodden, and his portfolio of South-side Chicago ghetto life won him a fellowship in 1941 with the Farm Security Administration (FSA). It was on his first day there at FSA that he met Ella Watson. After she posed for the American Gothic portrait, he chronicled her day to day life with a series of photo journalistic prints. He gained more photographic experience working for the Office of War Information. Disheartened and disgusted with bigotry in the agency, he moved to Harlem and freelanced with Vogue Magazine. At about the same time in 1944 Roy Stryker, his manager at FSA, recruited him for the Standard Oil Photography project taking images of small town America, and industrial development. An exciting contrast of opportunities catapulted him into the limelight: the fashion world and photo-journalism for a huge corporation. While photographing for Vogue, he began a second career as an author with the publication of two how-to books on photography, Flash Photography (1947) and Camera Portraits: Techniques and Principles of Documentary Portraiture (1948). However, it was Gordon Parks photo-journalistic portrayal of a gang leader that landed him in the position of staff photographer and writer for Life Magazine that lasted for the next 20 years. His life suddenly became artistically entwined with famous personalities such as Barbara Streisand and Muhammad Ali. His assignment to follow and chronicle Nation of Islam spokesman and eventual defector, Malcolm X continued as a close friendship. He became god-father of Malcolm's daughter, Qubilah Shabazz. His portrayal of Gloria Vanderbilt led to another long term friendship.
As in his earlier career, Gordon continued to use his camera to help the destitute. In Rio de Janiero, Brazil, he met a young boy, Flavio, dying of asthma and malnutrition. His story netted many donations.
Parks accompanied him to New York for the treatment that saved his life, and continued to stay in touch with him long after. Life Magazine bought the family a home.
The First of African American Photographers
to Write, Direct & Score a Hollywood Film
While Gordon Parks is probably best known for his American Gothic portrait of Ella Watson, his creative abilities reached their zenith on the silver screen.His first was a documentary about his surrogate son, Flavio, the Brazilian boy he rescued. That was followed by a poignant 1963 film, The Learning Tree, largely autobiographical through the novel's youngest son, Newt Winger. Parks also wrote the musical score for the film. Since it was the first major studio movie directed by an African American,the United States Library of Congress in 1989 preserved the film in the United States National Film Registry and deemed The Learning Tree "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
He wrote three more truly autobiographical books, but with the character, Shaft in the 1971 movie of the same name, he combined intense action with sociological undertones in a photographic medium. The very 'cool' black detective, Shaft, and his environment, were so cultural correct that in 2000 the film, SHAFT, was also selected for NFR (National Film Registry) preservation. In 1972 the sequel, Shaft's Big Score, was release under Gordon Parks direction. That was quickly followed by The Super Cops and Leadbelly. A dispute with MGM caused Parks to part with the studio, and concentrate on documentary films.
Musically Inspired
Inspiring, incredibly talented and multi faceted, Gordon Parks directed his creativity into a ballet, MARTIN, commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King. Previewed in 1989 in Washington D.C., in 1990 it was televised by PBS in honor of Dr. King's birthday.His interest in music began as a young boy when he began to teach himself to play an old piano. He was also able to pick his way through other musical instruments, and began to play professionally in a brothel. In the late 1920's or early 30's he toured with the Larry Funk Orchestra. In addition to the ballet, MARTIN, Parks composed a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (1953) and Tree Symphony (1967).
Incredible - He's An Artist Too!
In his later years Gordon Parks home overlooked the East River in Manhattan. Photography and painting are so closely related that it is easy to imagine how the lovely view below him inspired another facet of his creative genius. Concerning his foray into creative painting, he said, "I paint how I feel when I wake up. I may feel gentle, or very abrupt, like a dragon out of the sky.
Click here to enter the Gordon Parks Museum
Gordon Parks, a Master of the Camera,
Dies at 93
NY Times
The youngest of 15 children, in 1912 Parks was still-born into a poor family in rural Kansas. Dr. Gordon dunked him in ice water. The shock stimulated the baby to breathe, and inspired his parents to name him after the doctor.
Life was hard. Prejudice and discrimination were rampant, and his mother died when he was 16. He moved in with a sister who kicked him out in bitter cold. But as we've seen he thrived, fought and won against the bigotry he grew up with, and instead of bitterness, he pushed up beauty for all of us to enjoy.
Parks was married and divorced three times, but remained friends with each of his former wives. He fathered four children; however, the his eldest son died in a plane crash.
"I still don't know exactly who I am," Mr. Parks wrote in his 1979 memoir, "To Smile in Autumn." He added, "I've disappeared into myself so many different ways that I don't know who 'me' is."
He died of cancer on March 7, 2006.
His life and accomplishments have been a great encouragement and inspiration to me; and I hope they are to you as well.
CLICK HERE FOR GORDON PARKS POEMS.
They give us an inward glimpse into the heart of this renaissance man.
Do you have a favorite contemporary photographer that you would like us to research and profile as a Master of Photography?Or, would you like to write a biography about your favorite photographer for us to consider adding to this site? Just let us know below!
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