Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida, Gordon Parks

Artwork Overview

Gordon Parks, Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida
Gordon Parks, Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida
Gordon Parks
Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida
1966
Gordon Parks
1912–2006
Muhammad Ali, Miami, Florida, 1966
Where object was made: United States
Material/technique: gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 50.8 x 40.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 20 x 16 0.9843 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 32 x 24 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Friends of the Art Museum
Accession number: 1993.0049
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

American Dream
Gordon Parks’s photograph captures the famous boxer and activist Muhammad Ali mid-workout. Ali is often remembered for his vocal stance against both racism and the Vietnam War despite encountering public opposition, which negatively affected his career. Rather than portray Ali as a fighter, Fischer compares the Muslim Ali to the tragic Christian martyr Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes. Sebastian was ordered to death by arrows for having been a Christian and trying to convert others while serving in the army. While Sebastian actually went to battle, Ali refused to fight because of his religious beliefs. —Ronnie Bryant
Gordon Parks’s photograph captures the famous boxer and activist Muhammad Ali mid-workout. Ali is often remembered for his vocal stance against both racism and the Vietnam War despite encountering public opposition, which negatively affected his career. Rather than portray Ali as a fighter, Fischer compares the Muslim Ali to the tragic Christian martyr Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of athletes. Sebastian was ordered to death by arrows for having been a Christian and trying to convert others while serving in the army. While Sebastian actually went to battle, Ali refused to fight because of his religious beliefs. —Ronnie Bryant
Muhammad Ali is considered one of the greatest boxers in history. He won the Golden Gloves title, an Olympic gold medal, and becoming heavyweight champion of the world. During his retirement, he has raised money for the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center and supports organizations such as the Special Olympics and Make a Wish Foundation. Which athletes are your heroes? Why do you think they are heroes? The photographer Gordon Parks could also be considered a hero. He became a talented photographer, writer, composer, and filmmaker at a time when that level of success was difficult for African Americans to achieve. Parks used his art as a weapon against discrimination. His photographs shine a light on intolerance and reveal the power and strength of the African Americans he photographed. What other ways can you think of that artists can be heroes?
Archive Label: Gordon Parks has enjoyed a long and successful career as an artist, working in poetry, fiction, autobiography, film, and ballet as well as in the medium for which he is best known, photography. During the 1940s he made photographs for the Farm Security Administration and the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, projects that documented American life during that time. He joined the staff of Life magazine in 1949 as its first African-American photographer, working in France, the United States, and Brazil. He retired from Life in the early 1970s and now makes film, writes, paints, and composes music, in addition to his photography.

Exhibitions

American Dream
Celka Straughn, curator
2017
Teaching Gallery: Senior Session
2009
The Body and the Lens: Photography 1839 to the Present
John Pultz, curator
1995

Citations

Kanost, Elizabeth, ed., ed. Spencer Museum of Art Annual Report, Fiscal Years 2016 & 2017. Lawrence, Kansas: Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, 2018.