Dimensions: sheet: 50.5 × 40.8 cm (19 7/8 × 16 1/16 in.) image: 44.6 × 37.5 cm (17 9/16 × 14 3/4 in.)
Copyright: National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0
This black and white photograph, "Farm house, Augusta, Maine" was captured by Gordon Parks. There's something about the starkness of it that grabs you, doesn't it? Parks plays with light and shadow like a painter mixing darks and lights. Look at how the grainy texture of the tree trunk contrasts with the smooth expanse of the sky. It's almost like he's sculpting with light. The bare simplicity of the farmhouse, with its dark windows like empty eyes, evokes a sense of loneliness and isolation. I'm drawn to the way the snow hugs the ground, a thick, lumpy blanket that seems to muffle the silence. Parks, like many artists, was interested in social issues and particularly inequality. His photographs always seem to hint at a bigger story, a narrative beyond the frame. Artists like Dorothea Lange come to mind, artists who used photography as a form of social commentary. Art invites conversation. We can all bring something new to the table.
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