Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Parks, Gordon, 1912-2006
2. Riley, Casey (Curator)
3. Brookman, Philip
4. Harvey, Melanee C.
5. Thomas, Hank Willis, 1976-
6. Tillet, Salamishah
7. Willis, Deborah, 1948-
8. Luber, Katherine Crawford, 1961-
9. Kunhardt, Peter W., Jr., 1982-
10. Minneapolis Institute of Art, issuing body, host institution
11. Gordon Parks Foundation, issuing body

Description

1. 189 pages : illustrations (some color), facsimiles, portraits; 30 cm

Summary

1. Gordon Parks's 1942 portrait of government worker Ella Watson, "American Gothic," not only connects the intimacy of one person's life with a national state of affairs but also engages with a larger history of American images by referring to and reinterpreting Grant Wood's celebrated 1930 painting of the same name. Created as part of a collaboration between the photographer and his subject, it is at once a record of one woman's position within the racial, professional and economic hierarchies that stratified the nation's capital and Parks's visual reckoning with the realities of living in racially segregated Washington, D.C. Through his work with Watson--a custodian in the government building where he worked--Parks composed a portrait of Black life by focusing on everyday activities, from work routines to family meals and church services. The resulting photographs show Watson as a multidimensional figure, cherished by her community and vitally important within the civic sphere.

Uniform title

1. American Gothic (Steidl)

Alternative title

1. Gordon Parks and Ella Watson
2. Gordon Parks and Ella Watson, 1942.

Subject

1. Parks, Gordon, 1912-2006 > Exhibitions
2. Watson, Ella, 1883-1980 > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
3. Women cleaning personnel > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
4. Janitors > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
5. Civil service > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
6. African Americans > Washington (D.C.) > Social life and customs > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
7. African Americans > Washington (D.C.) > Social conditions > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
8. African Americans > Segregation > History > United States > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
9. African American women > United States > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
10. Occupational segregation > United States > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
11. African Americans in art > History > 20th century > Exhibitions
12. Documentary photography > United States > Exhibitions
13. Photography > Social aspects > Exhibitions
14. Portrait photography > 20th century > Exhibitions
15. African Americans > Segregation > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
16. Women cleaning personnel > Washington (D.C.) > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
17. Janitors > Washington (D.C.) > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
18. African American women > United States > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
19. African Americans in art > 20th century > Exhibitions
20. African American photographers > United States > 20th century > Exhibitions
21. African Americans > Segregation > History > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
22. Préposées à l'entretien des édifices > Washington (D.C.) > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
23. Concierges > Washington (D.C.) > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
24. Noirs américains > Washington (D.C.) > Mœurs et coutumes > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
25. Noirs américains > Washington (D.C.) > Conditions sociales > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
26. Noirs américains > Ségrégation > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
27. Noires américaines > États-Unis > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
28. Noirs américains dans l'art > 20e siècle > Expositions
29. Photographes noirs américains > États-Unis > 20e siècle > Expositions
30. Photographie documentaire > États-Unis > Expositions
31. Photographie > Aspect social > Expositions
32. Portraits (Photographie) > 20e siècle > Expositions
33. Préposées à l'entretien des édifices > Washington (D.C.) > Histoire > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
34. Concierges > Washington (D.C.) > Histoire > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
35. Noirs américains > Ségrégation > Histoire > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
36. Noires américaines > États-Unis > Histoire > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
37. Noirs américains dans l'art > Histoire > 20e siècle > Expositions
38. PHOTOGRAPHY / Individual Photographers / Monographs
39. United States > Social life and customs > 20th century > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
40. United States > Social conditions > 1933-1945 > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
41. États-Unis > Mœurs et coutumes > 20e siècle > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions
42. États-Unis > Conditions sociales > 1933-1945 > Ouvrages illustrés > Expositions

Contents

1. Foreword / Dr. Katherine Crawford Luber and Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. -- Seeing Ella / Deborah Willis -- "Washington could now have a conversation with her portrait" : venerating Ella Watson / Casey Riley -- Gordon Parks and American justice, 1942 / Philip Brookman -- "Think and pray" : Verbrycke Spiritual Church and Ella Watson's religious worldview / Melanee C. Harvey -- Plates -- Ella Watson's government personnel records / Philip Brookman -- "She was always so big to us" : Ella Watson as style and substance / Salamishah Tillet -- Framing American gothic / Hank Willis Thomas -- List of plates -- Acknowledgments -- Contributors.

Call number

1. TR681.B52

Owning institution

1. Columbia University Libraries

Note

1. Accompanies the exhibition "Gordon Parks and Ella Watson, 1942" held at Minneapolis Institute of Art, January 6-June 23, 2024.
2. Foreword by Dr. Katherine Crawford Luber and Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references.