American Gothic: Gordon Parks and Ella Watson

In the summer of 1942, during a yearlong fellowship in Washington, D.C., Gordon Parks photographed government worker Ella Watson across the varied landscape of her daily life. The resulting picture story presents Watson—a custodian, the head of a household, a deaconess at her church—as a vital figure within the civic sphere. At the same time, this intimate series reveals Parks’s experiences in coming to terms with the segregated city he once embraced as “the seat of democracy.”​​

This exhibition brings together nearly sixty photographs from their partnership and draws its title from one of the most celebrated photographs of the 20th century—an iconic portrait of Watson that Parks later titled “American Gothic.” Most importantly, it proposes new grounds for understanding Parks as an artist and activist, highlighting a unique professional collaboration between two Black federal employees at a crucial juncture in United States history.

Organized by Mia and the Gordon Parks Foundation.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image Credit: Gordon Parks (American, 1912–2006), American Gothic, Washington, D.C., 1942, gelatin silver print. Gift of Frederick B. Scheel, 2007.35.169, ©️ The Gordon Parks Foundation