The Photographs of Gordon Parks: The Library of Congress (Fields of Vision)

Following on from the publication of the first six books featuring The Library of Congress’ internationally renowned collection of Farm Security Administration (FSA) and Office of War Information (OWI) photographs, the series continues with images chosen from the works of Gordon Parks. Born in 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas, the youngest of fifteen children in a poor tenant-farming family, Parks was working odd jobs in Minnesota when he saw the work of FSA photographers in a magazine and was inspired to buy a camera. His early pictures landed him a position as Roy Stryker’s apprentice in 1942. Among his extraordinary FSA photos is “American Gothic,” which shows charwoman Ella Watson posed with mop and broom against an American flag. After the FSA, Parks worked at Life magazine. He also became a respected writer and film director. He died in 2006.