Gordon Parks
(1912-2006)
American Gothic, Washington D.C. [Ella Watson], 1942

Gelatin silver print, printed later, signed in pencil on the verso.

image: 12 x 8 1/2in. (30.5 x 21.6cm.)
sheet: 14 x 11in. (35.5 x 28cm.)

Provenance:

With Claire Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida

Literature:

Marien, Photography: A Cultural History, Pearson, 2015, fig. 9.1

Gordon Parks was hired by Roy Stryker to join his team of Farm Security Administration photographers in Washington, D.C and Parks focused his camera on subjects such as Ella Watson, a custodian working in the agency's office who is depicted in this image.

Perhaps Parks' most iconic image, he captures her strength and dignity in the face of a life of poverty, hardship and inequality.

A neutral toned print on semi-gloss, double-weight paper with margins; beautiful print, with a strong signature, in very good/ excellent condition. Sold framed and examined in frame.
Framed: 17 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches.

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Laura Paterson

Director, Senior Specialist, Photographs

[email protected]312 280 1212

Ms. Paterson joined Hindman in 2022 and is a nearly 30-year veteran of the photography industry. She began her career in the Photographs Department at Christie’s in New York, and spent 20 years at the auction house becoming a Senior Specialist. Subsequently, she worked at Magnum Photos New York (a prestigious photojournalism collective founded by Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1947) as US Cultural and Print Sales Director and Bonhams as Head of the Photographs Department. Ms. Paterson has extensive knowledge of photography from the 18th to 21st centuries, with a particular interest in works of the American West by Carleton Watkins and Ansel Adams.

Photographs

Gordon Parks(1912-2006)American Gothic, Washington D.C. [Ella Watson], 1942

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Gordon Parks
(1912-2006)
American Gothic, Washington D.C. [Ella Watson], 1942