Gordon Parks: renaissance man

USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 1998 by Philip Brookman

In addition to The Learning Tree, Parks has written three other books about his life: A Choice of Weapons, To Smile in Autumn, and Voices in the Mirror. He has published several volumes of poetry combined with his photographs, including Gordon Parks: A Poet and His Camera; Gordon Parks: Whispers of Intimate Things; Gordon Parks: In Love, Moments Without Proper Names; Arias of Silence; and Glimpses Toward Infinite.

Parks began to shoot movies in the early 1960s. His award-winning film, based on The Learning Tree and completed in 1969, was a groundbreaking venture, one of the first Hollywood motion pictures directed by an African-American filmmaker. Parks went on to make "Shaft" (1971), "Leadbelly" (1976), "Solomon Northup's Odyssey" (1984), and a number of other films. His compositions of classical, blues, and popular music--including a symphony, sonatas, concertos, and a ballet about the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.--have been performed and recorded internationally.

An exhibition of his work, "Half Past Autumn: The Art of Gordon Parks," is on view at the Museum of the City of New York through Nov. 1.

Mr. Brookman is curator of photography and media arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.