Past Exhibition
Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits from the Corcoran Collection

Details

See powerful portraits by one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century.
Gordon Parks: Camera Portraits looks at a celebrated American photographer and how he forged a new mode of portraiture after World War II. Parks blended a documentary photographer’s desire to place his subjects where they lived and worked with a studio photographer’s attention to dress, character, and expression. In doing so, he believed he could create portraits of individuals that addressed their cultural significance. He applied this approach to such American icons as boxer Muhammad Ali and conductor Leonard Bernstein, as well as to a Harlem gang leader and to a Detroit couple, revealing the humanity and cultural dignity of each person.
This exhibition, drawn primarily from the Corcoran Collection, presents some 25 portraits Parks made between 1941 and 1970. Explore Parks's innovations in portraiture through some of his best-known photographs. Learn how his portraits speak to larger stories of the civil rights movement, the African American experience, and American culture.
Organization
Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington
The exhibition is curated by Sarah Greenough, Senior Curator & Head of the Department of Photographs, National Gallery of Art
Sponsors
The exhibition is made possible through the leadership support of the Trellis Fund.
Selected Works
Dive Deeper

Article: Poet Jason Reynolds Responds to a Photograph by Gordon Parks
The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature imagines the experience of Ella Watson, the subject of Gordon Parks's iconic image.

Educator Resources : Gordon Parks Photography
Encourage creative, critical, and historical thinking in your students. Featuring introductions, image sets, prompts, and activities for K-12 educators.

Podcast : Sound Thoughts on Art: Daniel Bernard Roumain and “American Gothic”
Composer Daniel Bernard Roumain works with performance poet Lady Caress to respond to this iconic photograph with a combination of music and poetry. In the ebb and flow of his composition, DBR hopes to capture pain, legacy, enduring hope—and the rhythm of the subject’s life.