Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940–1950

Gordon Parks, Trapped in abandoned building by a rival gang on street, Red Jackson ponders his next move, 1948, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection)

During the 1940s American photographer Gordon Parks (1912–2006) grew from a self-taught photographer making portraits and documenting everyday life in Saint Paul and Chicago to a visionary professional shooting for Ebony, Vogue, Fortune, and Life. For the first time, the formative decade of Parks’s 60-year career is the focus of an exhibition, which brings together 150 photographs and ephemera—including magazines, books, letters, and family pictures. The exhibition will illustrate how Parks’s early experiences at the Farm Security Administration, Office of War Information, and Standard Oil (New Jersey) as well as his close relationships with Roy Stryker, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison, helped shape his groundbreaking style. A fully illustrated catalog, with extensive new research and previously unpublished images, will accompany the exhibition.

The exhibition is curated by Philip Brookman, consulting curator, department of photographs, National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in collaboration with The Gordon Parks Foundation.

Sponsors: Bank of America is proud to be the national sponsor of Gordon Parks: The New Tide, Early Work 1940-1950
Generous support is also kindly provided by the Trellis Fund.
Additional support comes from The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

Passes: Admission is always free and passes are not required

Other venues: The Cleveland Museum of Art, March 23–June 16, 2019
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, August 31–December 29, 2019
Addison Gallery of American Art, February 1–April 26, 2020