Gordon Parks
(American, 1912-2006)
"American Gothic, Washington, D.C. (Ellen Watson)", 2021
archival pigment print
from the 1942 negative, printed by the Art Guild Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, signed in print lower right, printer's embossed mark lower right, signed Robert Erlichman, dated "8/18/2021" and with image serial number "297934" 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 Gordon Park’s most well-known and lauded images, “American Gothic” was a direct result of the rampant racism of 1940s Washington D.C. In 1942, the young photographer was awarded a Rosenwald Fellowship which afforded him the opportunity to apprentice at the Farm Security Administration (FSA) photography program. Re-locating from Chicago to D.C., Parks experienced an appalling degree of racism that astonished even him. Discovering no one even willing to talk with him, much less allowing him to take photographs, the young man resolved to look within the local African American community. He began a conversation with one of the office’s cleaning ladies, Ella Watson, who eventually agreed to allow him access to herself and her neighborhood. Over the course of weeks, Parks followed Watson to her home, church, and work, documenting various aspects of African American life in the region. The culmination was a powerful series, a strong indictment of the position and plight of the African American in 1940s society. By posing Watson against an American flag, mop in one hand and broom in the other, looking directly into the camera, Parks simultaneously references and re-interprets the iconic Grant Woods painting of the same name.

Reference: gordonparksfoundation.org

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