GORDON PARKS, Teenagers in rollercoaster at night, Youth Essay, Ansonia, Connecticut, 1949, 12.75x10.625" Gelatin silver print, Printed c. 1949, Inscribed in pencil on print verso: Youth Essay / Ansonia, CT / 1949. LIFE photo credit stamp; Time Inc. copyright stamp; date stamp; LIFE print by Julius Zalon stamp; miscellaneous notations in red and black pencil.

A wonderful vintage print and image by legendary Black New York photographer Gordon Parks.

Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was born into poverty and segregation in Kansas in 1912. After buying a camera at a pawnshop, and despite his lack of professional training, he found employment with the Farm Security Administration (F.S.A.), which was then chronicling the nation's social conditions. When the F.S.A. closed in 1943, Parks became a freelance photographer, balancing work for fashion magazines with his passion for documenting humanitarian issues. His 1948 photo essay on the life of a Harlem gang leader won him widespread acclaim and a position as the first African American staff photographer and writer for LIFE magazine. Parks remained there for two decades, chronicling subjects related to racism and poverty, as well as taking memorable pictures of celebrities and politicians, including Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and Stokely Carmichael. His most famous images, such as Emerging Man (1952) and American Gothic (1942), capture the essence of activism and humanitarianism in mid-twentieth century America and have become iconic images, defining their era for later generations. They also rallied support for the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, for which Parks himself was a tireless advocate as well as a documentarian.

Parks spent much of the last three decades of his life working and winning numerous awards, including the 1988 National Medal of Arts and over fifty honorary doctorates. He was also a noted composer and author. In 1969, he became the first African American to write and direct a Hollywood feature film, one based on his bestselling novel The Learning Tree. This was followed in 1971 by the hugely successful motion picture Shaft. The core of his accomplishments, however, remains his photography.

CREDIT: Howard Greenberg Gallery
http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/gordon-parks

Very Good to Good. Moderate wear. Edge wears.