Celebrated for his humanistic and insightful depictions of American life and experience, Gordon Parks (1912–2006) is one of the most distinguished photographers of the 20th century. In photo-essays published in Life, Ebony, Vogue, and Glamour magazines, his portraits of everyday people and well-known individuals address the central issues of his time: race, poverty, civil rights, and African American and American culture after World War II. Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits from the Corcoran Collection presents approximately 25 photographs he made from 1941 into the 1970s. They are primarily drawn from the National Gallery’s Corcoran Collection and are presented in collaboration with the Gordon Parks Foundation. The exhibition is on view from July 14, 2024, through January 12, 2025, in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art.
“Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits demonstrates how much of the power of Parks’s art resides in his ability to create compelling and revealing portraits,” said Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art. “Whether he was photographing Ella Watson, a charwoman who toiled in a government office building, or the most celebrated people of the time, such as Duke Ellington, his portraits succinctly describe both the character of the person he depicted and the ways in which they elucidate larger social and cultural issues.”
“The Corcoran Collection of Gordon Parks’s work held a special significance for him during his lifetime,” said Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., Executive Director, The Gordon Parks Foundation. “We are excited that these works can be highlighted alongside more recent acquisitions, showing the breadth and reach of Parks’s work with his subjects.”
Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits from the Corcoran Collection
Jul 14, 2024 – Jan 12, 2025
National Gallery of Art
Washington, USA
