Norton Photography Gallery
August 20, 2011 - November 6, 2011
This exhibition is one of a series of exhibitions organized by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University from the photographic collection of the Los Angeles-based Capital Group. “Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks” features 73 works chosen specifically by Parks for The Capital Group as examples of his most potent imagery. Born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, Gordon Parks, who died in 2006 at age 93, documented the extremes of the world around him: crime, poverty, and glamour. An African American photographer who began working professionally in the 1940s, Parks tackled the harsh truth and dignity of the black urban and rural poor in the United States. He photographed aspects of the Civil Rights movements and individuals associated with the Black Panthers and Black Muslims. Parks also established himself as a leading fashion photographer, providing spreads for respected magazines such as Vogue. For 25 years, from 1945 to 1970, he served as staff photographer for Life, the magazine that mirrored mid-century American society. In addition to his documentary and fashion photography, Parks was a filmmaker, author, musician, and publisher, whose career embodied the American ideal of equality.
Bare Witness includes many of Parks's iconic images, such as those made for the Farm Security Administration, the Office of War Information, and the Standard Oil (New Jersey) photography project. Whether he was photographing celebrities or common folk, Harlem gang leaders or intellectuals, children or the elderly, individuals who were well or barely dressed, Parks brought his straightforward, sympathetic eye and mind to bear witness to late-20th century civilization.
The exhibition includes an illustrated catalogue with an essay by photography scholar Maren Stange who writes frequently on modern American culture. This exhibition has already enjoyed a five-venue tour, where the photographs were received with great excitement. The exhibition has been revived for a final showing at the Phoenix Art Museum. "Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks" was organized by the Cantor Arts Center. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are made possible by generous support from The Capital Group Foundation, the Cantor Arts Center's Hohbach Family Fund, and Cantor Arts Center's Members.
Image Credits
Left: Gordon Parks, Children with Doll (Ella Watson's Grandchildren), 1942. Gelatin silver print, 11x14 inches. Lent by The Capital Group Foundation, 2002.13. ©2006 The Gordon Parks Foundation. Right: Gordon Parks, American Gothic, 1942. Gelatin silver print, 24x20 inches. Lent by The Capital Group Foundation, 2002.05. ©2006 The Gordon Parks Foundation.