James Galanos Fashion
1961, printed later
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
silver dye bleach print
Dimensions
image: 39.2 × 59.2 cm (15 7/16 × 23 5/16 in.) sheet: 61 × 76.2 cm (24 × 30 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (The Gordon Parks Collection)
Accession Number
2016.117.222
Art Historical Context
Gordon Parks' *James Galanos Fashion* (1961, printed later) captures the glamour of mid-century American couture through the lens of one of the 20th century's most influential photographers. Parks, an African American trailblazer who rose from poverty to staff photographer at *Vogue* and *Life* magazine, masterfully documented high fashion while challenging racial barriers in the industry. This silver dye bleach print—also known as a Cibachrome—showcases a model draped in one of James Galanos' signature elegant gowns, evoking the opulence of 1960s ready-to-wear luxury that blended Hollywood so...
About the Artist
Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks (1912–2006), born the youngest of fifteen children to a Kansas tenant farmer and his wife in segregated Fort Scott, overcame a childhood marked by poverty, racism, and tragedy—including his mother's death at age fourteen—to become one of America's most influential chroniclers of Black life. Entirely self-taught after purchasing his first camera in 1937, inspired by Farm Security Admin...