California African American Museum
Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks
The first retrospective exhibition of the
works of renowned American artist Gordon Parks will open at the California
African American Museum on Saturday, October 14 and run through Saturday,
December 30, 2000. Parks is an American Renaissance man who has mastered
many media to express an uplifting and influential message of hope in the
face of adversity. (left: Photo Credit: © Johanna Fiore, Portrait
of Gordon Parks, 1977)
This
exhibition is organized by the Corcoran Gallery
of Art, and co-curated by Philip Brookman, curator of photography and
media arts at the Corcoran, and Deborah Willis, collections coordinator
at the Center for African-American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution.
(right: © Gordon Parks: Ella Watson and her Grandchildren,
Washington, D.C., 1942, gelatin silver print)
Although
the 87 year-old Parks is best known as a photojournalist, this retrospective
brings together for the first time his works as a filmmaker, novelist, poet
and musician. Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks begins in
the present with several of his most recent images and then, like a cinematic
flashback, propels visitors into the past through Park's early photographs
of Kansas that represent his childhood. (left: © Gordon Parks,
New England Fisherman, John Lafond 1942, gelatin silver print)
Sponsored by Ford Motor Company and Time Warner Inc., the
exhibition features 219 
photographs, with significant works from each of Parks'
major series from 1940 through 1997, including several galleries of color
photographs and portraits, combined with his books, music, film and poetry.
The result is, in the artist's words, a "tone-poem" that impressionistically
tells his own story. The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color 360-page
book by Parks, entitled Half Past Autumn: Gordon Parks, published
by Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown and Company. (right: © Gordon
Parks, Travelers, 1995, Iris ink jet print)
"Half
Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks is a record of one artist's creative
search for humanity in the face of intolerance," says Brookman. "Parks'
art is about pressing social issues, such as poverty, race, segregation
and crime, while it also enhances our understanding of beauty, nature, landscape,
childhood, music, fashion and memory. His striking balance, moving seamlessly
between these diverse topics, sketches a poetic portrait of post-war culture."
(left: © Gordon Parks: Spanish Fashions, 1950, gelatin
silver print)
Related articles in this magazine include:
CAAM is located at 600 State Drive, Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Please see the museum's website for hours and admission fees. (information as of 10/00)
Please click on thumbnail images bordered by a red line to see enlargements.
For further biographical information please see America's Distinguished Artists, a national registry of historic artists.
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