Caviar20
GORDON PARKS "DRINKING FOUNTAINS, MOBILE, ALABAMA" 1956
Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was one of the 20th century's most important photographers, celebrated for his profound contributions to documentary photography and photojournalism.
Parks used his camera to document American life with a remarkable clarity, compassion, and honesty. As the first African American staff photographer at Life magazine, he produced some of the defining images of the Civil Rights era while expanding the possibilities of documentary photography.
Photographed in 1956, "Drinking Fountains, Mobile, Alabama" was made during Parks' assignment documenting racial segregation in the American South. The black-and-white photograph captures two segregated drinking fountains, using their stark juxtaposition to reveal the unvarnished realities of Jim Crow laws.
Parks conveyed the quiet indignities of racial discrimination with remarkable precision and humanity, preserving quotidian scenes into enduring documents of social history. Originally made for Life magazine's essay The Restraints: Open and Hidden, this photograph remains one of the defining visual records of the American Civil Rights era.
Gordon Parks' work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and the Library of Congress, among many others.
Questions about this piece? Contact us, call +1.416.704.1720, or visit our Toronto Gallery.
"Drinking Fountains, Mobile, Alabama"
USA, 1956
Gelatin silver print
Signed by the executive director, dated, with Gordon Parks Foundation stamp, verso
11"H 14"W (sheet)
17"H 20.75"W (framed)
Very good condition
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