Photograph of Billie Holiday: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of Billie Holiday. Holiday is depicted from the shoulders up, right of center. She is wearing a black sequined garment, long pearl necklace, and large white feathers in her hair, tucked behind her proper left ear. She is looking towards the left side of the image with a serious expression. In the lower left quadrant of the image is a handwritten inscription in blue ink that reads, [To Laura / From / Mr and Lady Day]. The photographer's mark, printed in the negative, located in the bottom left corner reads, [Robin Carson]. The image is bordered with white and along bottom is black text on the left and right sides. The text in the lower left corner reads, [BILLIE HOLIDAY]. The text in the lower right corner reads, [ASSOCIATED BOOKING CORP. / JOE GLASER, President / Squibb B'ldg 745 - 5th Ave. N.Y. Beverly Hills, Cal.]. There are no inscriptions on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1940
• Photograph by: Robin Carson, American
• Distributed by: Associated Booking Corporation, American, founded 1940
• Subject of: Billie Holiday, American, 1915 - 1959
• Subject of: Joe Glaser, American, 1896 - 1969
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 8 3/4 × 7 1/2 in. (22.3 × 19 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 10 × 8 1/8 in. (25.4 × 20.6 cm)
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2013.46.25.90
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.