The Bowdoin College Museum of Art is currently presenting a significant exhibition featuring 65 photographs by renowned photographer Gordon Parks, titled "Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944." This compelling collection, displayed in collaboration with The Gordon Parks Foundation, illuminates a crucial early period in Parks' distinguished career, predating his landmark association with Life magazine that began in 1948 and launched him to widespread acclaim.
The exhibition is expertly curated by Frank Goodyear, co-director of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and is complemented by a comprehensive catalogue bearing the same title, published by the prestigious Steidl publishing house.
The photographic series centers on Parks' documentation of Herklas Brown, the proprietor of both a general store and an Esso gas station located in Somerville, Maine. In January 1944, during the peak of World War II, Parks embarked on this assignment under the sponsorship of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. His mission was twofold: to capture the company's vital contributions to the wartime effort and to create a visual record of America's home front during this pivotal historical moment.
Parks' comprehensive photographic work during this period chronicled various aspects of the oil and gas industry, including detailed documentation of fuel facilities and the dedicated individuals who operated them. His lens captured Esso gas station owners in small communities across the state, as well as ordinary citizens whose livelihoods were intrinsically connected to fuel and other petroleum products manufactured by Standard Oil.
True to his artistic philosophy that remained consistent throughout his career, Parks made it his fundamental mission to establish genuine connections with his photographic subjects and to reveal their essential humanity through his images. His photographs of Herklas Brown provide an intimate portrait that extends beyond the commercial setting, showing Brown not only at his Esso station and within his general store, but also in the warmth of his home environment, gathered with his family around the dinner table.
Parks dedicated an entire month to his work in Maine during that harsh winter of 1944, demonstrating his commitment to thorough documentation. He subsequently returned to the state in August of the same year to continue and expand upon his photographic project.
The circumstances under which Parks created this body of work were particularly challenging. Transportation was limited, food was rationed, and suitable lodging was difficult to secure due to wartime restrictions. These obstacles were compounded by the additional challenges Parks faced as a Black man traveling alone through rural Maine during the 1940s, a time when racial segregation and discrimination were widespread throughout the United States.
Despite these significant hardships, Parks succeeded in creating a compelling and comprehensive documentary record of rural American life. His photographs offer invaluable insight into this historic moment in American history, capturing both the industrial contributions to the war effort and the personal stories of the individuals who sustained the home front.
The exhibition "Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944" will remain on display at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art through November 9, 2025. The museum is located at 245 Maine Street in Brunswick, Maine 04011. Additional information about the exhibition and museum hours can be found at the museum's website.
