Gordon Parks – Painted Hermes Dresses, 1952.

Fashion – Hermes Dresses, 1952 | Photographer: Gordon Parks

(Images via LIFE photo archives)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gordon Parks (1912–2006) was the first African-American to work as a staff photographer for Life magazine and the first black artist to produce and direct a major Hollywood film, “The Learning Tree,” in 1969.

He developed a large following as a photographer for Life for more than 20 years, and by the time he was 50 he ranked among the most influential image makers of the postwar years. In the 1960s he began to write memoirs, novels, poems and screenplays, which led him to directing films. In addition to “The Learning Tree,” he directed the popular action films “Shaft” and “Shaft’s Big Score!” In 1970 he helped found Essence magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.

[...]

Gordon Parks developed his ability to overcome barriers in childhood, facing poverty, prejudice and the death of his mother when he was a teenager. Living by his wits during what would have been his high-school years, he came close to being claimed by urban poverty and crime. But his nascent talent, both musical and visual, was his exit visa.

Mr. Parks’ years as a contributor to Life, the largest-circulation picture magazine of its day, lasted from 1948 to 1972, and it cemented his reputation as a humanitarian photojournalist and as an artist with an eye for elegance. He specialized in subjects relating to racism, poverty and black urban life, but he also took exemplary pictures of Paris fashions, celebrities and politicians.

–NYT Obituary, 2006 (more…)

For further reading and information:
Wikipedia + IMDb + Art Directors Club + The Gordon Parks Foundation
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .