Parker, William E. William E. Parker. Recent Work. April 1-30, 1988.

Syracuse University, 1988. Foldout exhibit catalog with essay by Jeffrey Hoone, Director, Light Work, and three images from the “Wild Man” and the “Tattoo/Stigmata” series. Very good with a few small spots and mailing label. From the collection of late photographer Louis H. Draper, although the label is addressed to a fellow member of the Kamoinge group.  

William E. Parker (1932–2009) was an American photographer, painter, writer, and visual arts educator recognized for combining photographic media with painting and exploring photographic art history through a Jungian philosophical lens.Born in the United States, Parker earned a Bachelor of Design and an MFA from the University of Florida. Over a teaching career spanning thirty-five years, he held faculty posts at Memphis State University, the Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the University of Connecticut at Storrs, where he served from 1969 until his retirement in 1994 as Emeritus Professor of Art, Photography, and the History of Photography. As an artist, he engaged in symbolic, iconography-driven visual experimentation that earned him two National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artist Grants. In addition to lecturing widely and writing on art history and iconography, Parker was awarded the inaugural American Photo Teacher of the Year award in 1990. Today, his work is included in the permanent collections of major institutions, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the George Eastman Museum.

William E. Parker: Recent Work is a 6-page, foldout exhibition catalog published by the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery at Syracuse University's Schine Student Center. Modeled as Volume 12 of the gallery’s exhibition publication series in collaboration with the non-profit arts organization Light Work, the catalog documents a solo exhibition that ran from April 1 to April 30, 1988.

The publication features a critical, introductory essay by Jeffrey Hoone, the Director of Light Work, contextually anchoring Parker's deeply evocative and symbolic imagery.

Key Creative & Catalog Features

• Thematic Focus: The catalog explores Parker's intricate visual commentary on human identity, ritual, and archetypes. The underlying presentation addresses how photography can function beyond objective documentation, tapping into raw psychological and historical motifs.

• Featured Series: The catalog is illustrated with three specific plates highlighting contrasting yet conceptually linked photographic explorations. These selections are drawn from two primary thematic bodies of work: the "Wild Man" series and the "Tattoo/Stigmata" series.