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the chrysler museum showcases photography from hollywood's first major black film director gordon parks

Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks Gives Harsh, Realistic View of American History

(NORFOLK, VA)—Best known for directing the 1971 detective movie Shaft andhis photo essays in Life magazine, Gordon Parks dedicated his life to exploring his talents and cleverly transforming images of the human condition into an art that gained nationwide attention. A portion of his work will be on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art in the exhibition Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks, opening on Friday, January 25, 2008 at 10 a.m. The exhibition showcases more than 70 images selected by Parks himself and represents the greatest achievements of his long and distinguished career.

Preceding the public opening of the exhibition is a special members’ reception that will be held on Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 7 p.m.to honor Parks and his achievements. Irvin Mayfield, renowned New Orleans trumpeter, will give a special presentation including a lecture and musical selections. The following night, the Irvin Mayfield Quintet will present an evening of jazz as a tribute to Parks at the Attucks Theatre in Norfolk.

Historically black colleges in Hampton Roads are also celebrating the life of this legendary artist. Join us for a night of art, music, and poetry with members of the Hampton University Jazz Ensemble and other special guests on February 20, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free for this event.

On Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 7 p.m., actress Daphne Reid and the Norfolk State University Spartan Jazz Ensemble will highlight the poems and musical compositions of Gordon Parks in The Words and Notes of Gordon Parks. Local poets, inspired by Parks, will also share their talents. This event is free and open to the public.

The celebration continues the following evening on March 17, 2008, at 7:30 p.m. with Voices Found: Models of Inspiration, a concert featuring the Norfolk State University Concert Choir and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra at Norfolk State University’s Wilder Center for Performing Arts. Admission is $15.

For a complete a list of events at the Chrysler, please visit www.chrysler.org or call 757-664-6200.

Considered one of America’s first true African-American Renaissance men, Gordon Parks knew no limits to his career. Parks was born during segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas and was the youngest of 15 children. Inspired by photographs of migrant workers he saw in a magazine, he purchased his first camera at 26. The first roll of film Parks ever shot contained an image that caught the eye of the wife of heavyweight boxing champion, Joe Lewis. She encouraged him to move to Chicago where he began taking pictures of women in high society and it was here a career was born. Although Parks started his journey as a photographer, spending 25 years at Life magazine, he was also a poet, an editor, musician, composer, film-maker, semi-pro athlete, and civil rights activist.

Whether photographing celebrities or common folk, Harlem gang leaders or intellectuals, children or elderly, or individuals who were well or barely dressed, Parks brought his straightforward, sympathetic eye
to the late-20th-century. Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks is comprised of both color and black-and-white photographs including iconic images such as those made for the Farm Security Administration, the Office of War Information, and Standard Oil (New Jersey) photography project.

This exhibition demonstrates his passions by highlighting several compelling images from his popular photo-essay titled, “Freedom’s Fearful Foe: Poverty,” based on the plight of a poor family in Rio de Janeiro struggling to raise six young children, one of them ill. After these photographs were printed in Life magazine in 1961, readers who were touched by the grave situation of this family donated more than $30,000 to help care for the ailing child.

Parks is chiefly noted for his down-to-earth photographical documentaries of crime and poverty, but he also explored images of culture and glamour. Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks includes portraits of historical figures such as American conductor and composer Aaron Copland, civil rights activist Malcolm X, jazz musician Duke Ellington, leader of the women's corps of the Black Muslims Ethel Shariff, actress Ingrid Bergman, legendary poet and writer Langston Hughes, and many more.

Parks passed away in 2006 at age 93 and is still recognized as one of the greatest artists of his time. Although Parks was a legendary photographer and Renaissance man who captured the truth through the lens of his camera, most will remember him as a dedicated humanitarian who used his talents to enlighten others. He was a master at creating photos that  portrayed poverty as a universal enemy that crosses both racial and geographical boundaries.

Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks will be on view at the Chrysler Museum of Art until Sunday, March 30, 2008.

Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks was organized by the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University.  The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are made possible by generous support from The Capital Group Foundation, the Cantor Arts Center's Hohbach Family Fund, and Cantor Arts Center's Members. 

The Chrysler Museum of Art is pleased to present Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks brought to us by the Cantor Arts Center and The Capital Group Foundation and generously funded by the Friends of African American Art and Capital Group Companies.

Members of the media in need of high-resolution images of the exhibition may contact the Office of Communications at 757.333.6295 or publicrelations@chrysler.org for more information.