In January 1944, at the height of World War II, Gordon Parks photographed Herklas Brown, owner of the general store and Esso gas station in Somerville, Maine. Parks traveled to the state under the auspices of the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) to record its contributions to the war effort and to document the home front. His photographs chronicled oil and gas facilities and those who operated them, Esso gas station owners in small towns, and people whose work depended on fuel and other Standard Oil products. Consistent with his work before and after, Parks made it his mission to get to know his subjects and show their humanity. He photographed Brown at his Esso station, in his store, and with his family at the dinner table. Parks spent a month in Maine that winter and then returned in August to resume his work in the state. At a time when transportation, food, and lodging were a challenge, and notably as a Black man traveling alone, Parks nonetheless created a compelling documentary record of rural America that offers insight into this historic moment.
These 65 photographs, which are being exhibited at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in partnership with The Gordon Parks Foundation, highlight an important early chapter in Parks’ career—before he joined Life magazine in 1948 and began to achieve wider recognition.
Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944 is curated by Frank Goodyear, co-director, and is accompanied by a catalogue of the same title published by Steidl and The Gordon Parks Foundation.
Gordon Parks, Dinner time at Mr. Hercules Brown’s home (2696) (Hercules Brown and His Family at Supper, Somerville, Maine) February 1944
