Photograph of Cab Calloway: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of Cab Calloway. Calloway is depicted seated, from the waist up. His body is depicted in profile, facing the left edge of the image, and his head is turned slightly towards the viewer. He is smiling and he holds a conductor’s baton with both hand in his lap. He is wearing a white tuxedo jacket, white pants, and a white bow tie. There is a white pocket square in his proper left breast pocket. He is shown against a solid black background. In the bottom right corner of the front of the photograph is an inscription in black ink that reads, [Hi – de – Ho / Cab Calloway.]. There are no inscriptions on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1930
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 5 1/16 × 3 1/8 in. (12.9 × 8 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 5 1/2 × 3 9/16 in. (14 × 9 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Conductors (Musicians)
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2013.46.25.251
• 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 underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.