Migratory Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona

There are so few photo's that I love as much as Dorothea Lange's Migratory Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona. In fact, I think it might be my all time favorite. Every time I see this photograph I feel an overwhelming need to jump back to November 1940, stand right next to Dorothea and watch her make this image.

Unfortunately, I can't do that. But when I had the opportunity to go see what I think might be the largest printing of this image that exists in Sarah Meister's show Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures, I knew I needed to go. And so that is what I did.

One day before the show was slated to close, I took the 4 hour train from Boston to NYC and went to MoMA. It was one of the most worth while trips I have ever taken and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I had never seen the photo so life size before–only in a small print at the Boston MFA. I felt so overwhelmed with joy upon walking up to it that I could not help but cry a little bit.

I have no idea why this image means so much to me but I have the rest of my life to figure it out.

All the best,

Parker

P.S. Thank you to the wonderful stranger who took my photo... you made my day.

Thinking Of: A New Photo Idea

In a recent meeting of my Book Arts & Editions course we had a remote interview and studio tour with artist Antonia Contro. Above her studio sink I noticed a photo on stretched canvas which she explained to me was simply an accordion folded paper in the shape of a cone or tent.

However straight forward and believable that explanation was, it was not satisfactory with what I saw. Instead, trough my grainy Zoom connection, what I interpreted was much less mundane. The image appeared to show a small figure with their upper body/head completely dwarfed by this enveloping dress with perfect folds and what I imagined to be a tulle torso. The head appears slightly askew with long dark hair.

The absolute contrast in size between the imagined head and dress creates an incredible illusion of scale in mind. Since then I've haven't been able to stop thinking about how to recreate my perceived image. For now this is what I have to work from:

All the best,

Parker

Thinking of Charles White

I recently discovered Charles White, an artist who's drawings, lithographs, and murals create powerful images of African Americans -- what White called “images of dignity.” White's contributions to American muralism and the "New Negro" cannon are significant but had gone unnoticed after his death in 1979. The subject of a major retrospective at MoMA in 2018, White's work reemerged into the public eye.

Love Letter III 

I Had a Dream

Folksinger (Voice of Jericho: Portrait of Harry Belafonte)

Goodnight Irene

Our War

Name Unknown

Name Unknown

Banner for Willie J

Preacher

Mary McLeod Bethune

Charles White, c. 1950

I definitely have more thoughts/ideas/questions about Charles' work and I look forward to sharing them sometime in the future.

All the best,

Parker

Thinking of Robert Kipniss

I recently discovered painter and printmaker Robert Kipniss. His work has a dark, foggy romanticism reminding me of the work of Robert Adams. A friend remarked that his prints have a familiarity to early computer generated images.

All the best,

Parker