Photographs of Gordon Parks: the Library of Congress

Following on from the publication of the first six titles featuring The Library of Congress' internationally renowned collection of Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographs, the 'Fields of Vision' series continues with images showcasing the work of Arthur Rothstein, Gordon Parks and Carl Mydans. Providing a unique view of American life during the Great Depression and Second World War, each 'Fields of Vision' volume includes an introduction to the life of the photographer by a leading author or journalist, and 50 evocative images selected from their work. Transporting the viewer to American homes, farms and streets in the 1930s and 1940s, they also offer a glimpse of a new narrative and intimate style that was later to blossom on the pages of 'LOOK' and 'LIFE' magazines. For many Americans of the pre-television age, the diversity and complexity of their country was defined by the lenses of these men and women. Gordon Parks was born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of fifteen children in a poor tenant-farming family.
He was working odd jobs in Minnesota when he saw the work of FSA photographers in a magazine and was inspired to buy a camera. Parks early pictures landed him a position as Roy Stryker's apprentice in 1942. Among his extraordinary FSA photos is American Gothic, which shows charwoman Ella Watson posed with mop and broom against an American flag. After the FSA, Parks worked at Life magazine. He also became a respected writer and film director. He died in 2006.