In mortuary Red and Herbie Levy study wounds on face of Maurice Gaines, a buddy of theirs who was found dying one night on a Harlem sidewalk

1948

Gordon Parks

Artist, American, 1912 - 2006

Two young Black men look at a third, who lies in a coffin, in this vertical black and white photograph. All three are clean-shaven with short hair. The coffin is lined with light-colored satin. We see the man there, Maurice Gaines, from the chest up. He wears a suit jacket, button-up shirt, and dark tie. A flower is pinned to the lapel of the jacket. His skin is dark, and there are some lighter spots around his mouth. Flowers are next to and on the edges of the coffin at his waist and at the head. The two onlookers both wear button-down shirts with pockets with flaps on the chest. They look steadily at Maurice, mouths parted. One leans forward with his arms planted on the back of his hips. The other looks down with the arm we see hanging by his side. The three men take up most of the composition, and the background behind them is inky black.
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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gordon Parks, New York; gift to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1998; acquired by NGA, 2015.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1997

  • Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 10, 1997 – January 11, 1998

Inscriptions

on verso, by unknown hand, top right in red marker: MARTIN V-19 [photo used in opera called Martin, about MLK, produced for public TV]; top right corner perpendicular in graphite circled: [?]; top right in green pencil cursive underlined: Gordon Parks; center in black ink: ONE. 30 x 40 Print / for I.C.P. C.Capa - / March/74; center perpendicular in black ink circled scribbled out in red ink: 53; center perpendicular in red ink circled scribbled out: 19=6 1/2; center perpendicular in red ink: 2 [?]; center in red ink circled: 4; bottom left in red ink circled: 4; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right corner in graphite: CGA#062 [exhibition number for Half Past Autumn]

Wikidata ID

Q64154405

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