Untitled, Alabama
Gordon Parks, American, 1912 - 2006
negative 1956; print 2022
Archival pigment print
5/15
Image: 14 3/16 × 14 in. (36 × 35.6 cm)
Sheet: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Mrs. Harvey P. Hood W'18 Fund
2022.27.6
Geography
Place Imaged: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Photograph
Research Area
Photograph
Not on view
Inscriptions
Numbered, on reverse, lower right, in graphite: 5/15; Stamped, on reverse, below center, in black ink: [in square box] GORDON PARKS / This is a Certified Gordon Parks Photograph / which was printed in __ 2022 [graphite]__ and / authenticated by the Gordon Parks Foundation. / __Peter W. Kunhardt [graphite]__ / Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr. / Executive Director, the Gordon Parks Foundation / c[circled] The Gordon Parks Foundation, All rights reserved
Label
While taking photographs for his Life magazine “Segregation Story” series, Parks caught these two little girls playing in puddles on the side of the road. The children use toy teacups to scoop the water, possibly planning a tea party. In dresses of nice fabric and hair bows, though barefoot, they do not look dressed to play outside. One girl pulls her hem up to stay dry; they likely snuck out to play carefree in the warm summer light. Despite the rural poverty indicated by the ramshackle houses and unpaved road, this innocent childhood moment manages to transcend its setting and evoke children everywhere there are puddles to be played in.
From the 2024 exhibition And I'm Feeling Good: Relaxation and Resistance, curated by Alisa Swindell, Associate Curator of Photography
Course History
HIST 10.04/AAAS 20.02, Dartmouth Black Lives, Julia Rabig and Darryl Barthe, Fall 2022
Exhibition History
And I'm Feeling Good: Relaxation and Resistance, Ivan Albright Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 20-April 13, 2024.
Provenance
The Gordon Parks Foundation, Pleasantville, New York; sold to present collection, 2022.
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