Gordon Parks: Looking Through LIFE
Dublin Core
Title
Gordon Parks: Looking Through LIFE
Subject
Parks, Gordon. “A Harlem Family.” LIFE Magazine, March 8, 1968. Pp. 48-64.
Moore, Gerald. “Return of the Prodigy.” LIFE Magazine, November 15, 1968. Pp. 116-124.
Moore, Gerald. “Return of the Prodigy.” LIFE Magazine, November 15, 1968. Pp. 116-124.
Description
When photographer Gordon Parks first began shooting for LIFE Magazine in 1948, he was still a documentarian in the making, having shot fashion for Vogue Magazine and the Farm Security Administration, where he made waves chronicling poverty and urban life. Two decades later, he emerged as a photographer, author, and Hollywood movie director who demonstrated that his lens went beyond just the pages of a magazine. This exhibit looks at two articles: “A Harlem Family,” where Parks photographed the Fontanelles, a poor Black family that lived in the slums of New York City; and “Return of the Prodigy,” an article focused on Parks, photographed by his son and written by Gerald Moore that documents his return to his hometown of Fort Scott, Kansas, where he filmed his first feature, “The Learning Tree.”
Creator
Gordon Parks
Source
LIFE Magazine
Publisher
Time-LIFE Inc.
Rights
All rights reserved.
Format
Magazine
Collection Items
LIFE Magazine, November 15, 1968
This article is focused on Parks filming his first movie, “The Learning Tree,” which is based on the book he wrote of the same name. It is set in Fort Scott, Kansas, where Parks was raised, and is a homecoming of sorts for the photographer.
LIFE Magazine, March 8, 1968
This photographic essay chronicles the life of the Fontanelles, a Black family living in poverty in New York City. Parks’ essay was part of a special section for this issue titled “The Cycle of Despair: The Negro and the City.”
