Gordon Parks: Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944

In January 1944, during the height of World War II, Gordon Parks photographed Herklas Brown—the 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) (SONJ) to record SONJ's contributions to the war effort and to document the home front in this crucial period.

His photographs chronicled oil and gas facilities and workers, Esso gas station owners in small towns, as well as people whose lives depended on fuel and other SONJ products. Consistent with his work before and after, Parks made it his mission to get to know his subjects and show their humanity, photographing Brown at his Esso station and with his family at the dinner table.

Traveling 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, as well as his early photographic practice directly before joining the staff of Life magazine.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Herklas Brown and Maine, 1944 features more than 90 previously unpublished photographs by Parks.