AMERICAN GOTHIC – Gordon Parks

American Gothic, Gordon Parks’ 1942 portrait of government employee Ella Watson, is among the most famous photographs of the twentieth century. Part of an extensive collaboration between photographer and subject, the portrait is both a testament to a woman’s position within the racial, professional and economic hierarchies that stratified the nation’s capital, and Parks’ visual testimony to the realities of life in racially segregated Washington.
Through his work with Watson – a janitor at the government building where he worked – Parks composed an intimate portrait of black life, focusing on everyday activities from work routines to family meals and religious services. The resulting photographs paint a remarkably intimate portrait of Watson, a multi-dimensional figure, cherished by her community and of vital importance in the civic sphere.

Texts by Philip Brookman, Melanee C. Harvey, Hank Willis Thomas, Salamishah Tillet and Deborah Willis

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