New photography by Shannon Ruff captured with a digital camera-2007.

Roy Stryker

Artist Gordon Parks (American, 1912-2006)

CultureAmerican

Date1946

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsOverall, Frame: 33 × 26 in. (83.8 × 66 cm)
Overall, Image: 26 1/8 × 19 1/2 in. (66.4 × 49.5 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Object number85.68

Not on view

DescriptionThis is a gelatin silver print photograph from a copy negative. Signed by Gordan Parks.

Label TextGordon Parks American, 1912–2006 Roy Stryker, 1946 Gelatin silver print As a leader for social justice, Gordon Parks trained his camera on the subjects of the civil rights movement, poverty, and daily life. Here he depicts Roy Stryker, a fellow photographer and head of the information division of the Farm Security Administration, which hired photographers to document the difficult conditions of farmers during the Great Depression. Parks worked for a time under Stryker. In this portrait, with Parks behind the camera, perhaps the power dynamics have shifted, as Stryker is no longer supervisor but subject. Museum purchase 85.68ProvenancePembroke Gallery, Houston, Texas Exhibition History"Gordon Parks Photographs," Modern Art Galleries, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., March 26 - June 2, 1985. "The Portrait in America," The Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., January 26 - April 8, 1990. "Photography Speaks," The Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photography Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., September 4, 2004 - January 2, 2005. "Facing Ourselves: Mike Disfarmer and the American Portrait," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 16, 2022 - May 14, 2023.Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson, _The Portrait in America_, exh. cat., The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Va., 1990, 9.