Harlem – Gang Warfare

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Copied Gordon Parks, Harlem--Gang Warfare, 1948, printed 1950s, gelatin silver print, sheet and image: 19 1⁄8 x 15 1⁄8 in. (48.5 x 38.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, 1998.121.3, © 1948, Gordon Parks Foundation

Artwork Details

Title
Harlem – Gang Warfare
Artist
Date
1948, printed 1950s
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet and image: 19 1⁄8 x 15 1⁄8 in. (48.5 x 38.3 cm.)
Copyright
© 1948, Gordon Parks Foundation
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — New York — Harlem
  • State of being — evil — violence
  • African American
  • Figure group — male
  • Cityscape — New York — New York
Object Number
1998.121.3
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.121.3

Artwork Description

In 1948, Parks approached Life magazine with a proposal to do a freelance story on Harlem’s gangs. Editors were fascinated and offered Parks two hundred dollars to do the piece. “Harlem Gang Leader Red Jackson’s Life is One of Fear, Frustration and Violence” was a dramatic and poignant story told through unforgettable images and extended captions. Light barely touches the shadowy figures in Harlem – Gang Warfare, one of the photographs included in the essay. Shot from below, the picture captures the aggression but also the vulnerability of the young gang members.


African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012