Folk Singer: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A linocut printed in black ink on white paper. The print depicts Harry Belafonte singing. Belafonte appears in the bottom half the vertically oriented printed. He is pictured in profile from his right side with his head tilted upwards, his mouth open in song, and his eyes closed. The rest of the print is shaded with short, linear marks in an undulating pattern, lighter surrounding Belafonte and growing darker at each corner. The title is written in the margin at the bottom left corner [FOLK SINGER]. The artist's name [CHARLES - WHITE] appears within the print at the bottom right corner and again by hand in graphite in the margin just below: [CHARLES WHITE '57]. The print (2023.89.8a) is in a brown wooden frame (2023.89.8b).

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1957
• Created by: Charles White, American, 1918 - 1979
• Subject of: Harry Belafonte Jr., American, 1927 - 2023
• Type: linocuts
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W x D (print): 37 × 19 in. (94 × 48.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (framed): 45 1/2 × 26 3/4 in. (115.6 × 67.9 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2023.89.8ab
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Barbara Brooks Jackson of Washington, D.C. (2018)
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Estate of Charles White Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.