David Parks
(American
"Portrait of Gordon Parks", 2021
archival pigment print
signed in print lower left, pencil-signed en verso, printed by the Art Guild Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, printer's embossed mark lower right, signed "Robert Erlichman, dated "8/18/2021", from an edition of 24, inscribed "130132" en verso.
Unframed but in foldover portfolio.
sheet 22" x 17"
I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.
Gordon Parks

One of the most acclaimed American photojournalists of the 20th century, Parks was a staunch advocate for social justice and much of his work explores issues of poverty, racism, and civil rights. The youngest of 15 children of a Kansas farmer and his wife, Parks taught himself the rudiments of photography after purchasing a camera at a pawnshop. He worked as a freelance photographer, as well as working numerous odd jobs to support himself, until his series of photographs of Chicago’s South Side received national attention. In 1942, in part because of these photos, Parks was awarded a fellowship from the prestigious Julius Rosenwald Foundation, an extraordinary honor for a self-taught photographer with no formal training. The fellowship afforded him the opportunity to re-locate to Washington D.C. for an apprenticeship at the Farm Security Administration (FSA), where he remained for several years, supplementing his income by taking fashion photos for such magazines as Vogue and Ebony. In 1948, he became the first, and was for many years, the only African American on staff at LIFE magazine. His work for the publication brought him to the attention of an even wider audience and gave him the opportunity to explore social justice issues.

Reference: gordonparksfoundation.org

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