Gordon Parks

Pittsburgh Grease Plant, 1944-1946

Peter W. Kunhardt Jr, Dan Leers, Philip Brookman , LaToya Ruby Frazier

$110

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Steidl Verlag
23 November 2022

Individual photographers; Industrial: Commercial Art & Design; Architectural structure & design; History of architecture

By 1944 Gordon Parks had established himself as a photographer who freely navigated the fields of press and commercial photography, with an unparalleled humanist perspective. That year, Roy Stryker-the former Farm Security Administration official now heading the public relations department for the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey)-commissioned Parks to travel to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and document the Penola, Inc. Grease Plant.

Parks spent two years chronicling the plant's industry-critical to Pittsburgh's history and character-by photographing its workers and their occupations. The resulting images, dramatically staged, lit and composed, showed the range of activities for Black and white workers, divided by roles, race and class. The photographs were used for marketing and made available to local and national newspapers, as well corporate magazines and newsletters. Yet they served as much more than a documentation of industry-enduring as an exploration of labor and its social and economic ramifications in World War II America.

Featuring more than 100 photographs, many previously unpublished, this is the first book to focus exclusively on Parks' work for the Standard Oil Company, illuminating an important chapter in his œuvre prior to his landmark career as a staff photographer for Life magazine.

Co-published by The Gordon Parks Foundation and the Carnegie Museum of Art

Contributions by: Philip Brookman, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Mark Whittaker
Edited by: Peter W. Kunhardt Jr, Dan Leers
Imprint: Steidl Verlag
Country of Publication: Germany
Dimensions: Height: 290mm, Width: 250mm,
Weight: 1.700kg
ISBN: 9783969990056
ISBN 10: 396999005X
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 23 November 2022
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Gordon Parks (1912-2006) was a photographer, filmmaker, musician and author whose 50-year career focused on American culture, social justice, race relations, the civil rights movement and the Black American experience. Born into poverty and segregation in Fort Scott, Kansas, Parks was awarded the Julius Rosenwald Fellowship in 1942, which led to a position with the Farm Security Administration. By the mid-1940s he was working as a freelance photographer for publications such as Vogue, Glamour and Ebony. Parks was hired in 1948 as a staff photographer for Life magazine, where for more than two decades he created groundbreaking work. In 1969 he became the first Black American to write and direct a major feature film, The Learning Tree, based on his semi-autobiographical novel, and his next directorial endeavour, Shaft (1971), helped define a film genre. Parks continued photographing, publishing and composing until his death in 2006.