One of the early assignments Parks undertook on behalf of Standard Oil was to photograph a grease workers’ plant in Pittsburgh. The plant’s grimy interiors gave Parks the opportunity to render dramatic contrasts of light and dark in his pictures, visible on machines and barrels and on the faces of the workers who handled them. Among the most notable images from the series are those of a Black worker in the cooper’s room, where a spectral steam rises around the barrels and drums he is reconditioning.
Untitled, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Untitled, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Workmen in the Powerhouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Grease Plant Apprentices, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Marking Drums for Shipment, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Kettle Tender, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1946
Grease Plant Workers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1946
Grease Plant Worker, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944
Grease Plant Workers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944 (Courtesy University of Louisville)
Stacking Drums, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1944 (Courtesy University of Louisville)