Half Past Autumn: A Retrospective - Hardcover

Parks, Gordon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0821222988 ISBN 13: 9780821222980

Publisher: Bulfinch, 1997

Synopsis

This stunning companion to a major traveling exhibition captures the life and work of one of the most distinguished photographers of our century. Fusing nearly 300 unforgettable images with his own account of his amazing life, Gordon Parks, at age 84, gives us the first complete retrospective of his photographic career. 100 color & 195 duotone illustrations.

About this title

About the Author

Gordon Parks, at age 84, is truly a living legend - one of the early Life photographers, and among the most esteemed photographers of our time. His career also extends well beyond the camera - he is an acclaimed poet, filmmaker and composer, and author of many books, from The Learning Tree (1963) to Voices in the Mirror (1990), Arias in Silence (1994), and Glimpses Toward Infinity (1996).

Reviews

Parks does not "take" pictures; he gives them. Now 84 years old, and the subject of a major traveling retrospective collection, Parks recalls his remarkable life in this magnificent union of memoir and art. Nearly 300 of Parks' photographs are collected here, images that speak volumes even as their drama is enhanced by Parks' circumspect but riveting narration. He traces the seemingly blessed course of his life from his childhood in Kansas as the youngest of 15 children to being sent to live in St. Paul, Minnesota, as a teenager after his mother's death, where he faced racism in all its virulence and realized that he not only had to learn how to survive but to fight back and satisfy his "urge to create." He chose his "weapons" wisely, the camera and the pen, and set out on what became not only an aesthetic quest but also a mission of compassion. A black man working for the white establishment, Parks was a bridge between worlds and a crucial presence in the long battle for racial equality, covering the civil rights movement for Life magazine. And whoever he photographed, whether it was members of Harlem street gangs, Winston Churchill, Duke Ellington, Ingrid Bergman, Malcolm X, Eldridge Cleaver, Muhammad Ali, or the poorest of Rio de Janeiro's poor, Parks earned his subjects' trust with his empathy, respect, and gratitude. The measure of his immense talent isn't confined to photographs, however, for Parks is also a writer, composer, and film director. Whatever his medium, he is always an artist of conscience. Donna Seaman

This lavishly illustrated book of photographs from prolific African American artist Parks accompanies a traveling exhibit organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Though Philip Brookman, the Corcoran's curator of photography, offers an assessment of Parks's artistic contributions, his autobiography?revised, updated, and shortened for this retrospective volume?tells it best. Born in 1912, Parks began photography with a $7.50 camera in 1938 and later talked his way into a job with Roy Stryker at the Farm Security Administration. He went on to photograph a range of subjects, from factory workers and Harlem riots to fashion (for Vogue), Paris (for Life), the Civil Rights movement, and Muhammad Ali; his later color work is at once dreamlike and stark. Unrivaled in the emotional impact of his photographs and the range of projects he undertook?his bibliography/filmography lists 15 books of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and photography, and he has also written and directed several films and composed film scores, ballets, and works for piano and orchestra?Parks shows no signs of slowing down. The images in this fine book, presented chronologically from 1949, go right up to 1997. Highly recommended for photography, black history, photojournalism, fashion photography, and general collections.?Kathleen Collins, Bank of America Archives, San Francisco
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bulfinch
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821222988
• ISBN 13: 9780821222980
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 360