Photograph of Thelonius Monk and Walt Harper with autographs: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black-and-white photograph, portrait orientation, of Thelonius Monk (left) and Walt Harper (right) talking to each other. Thelonius is wearing a dark suit and tie with a lighter unbuttoned overcoat with a patterned fedora, while Walt is wearing a gray single-breasted suit, with a dark tie and is holding a cigarette in his proper right hand. Both men signed next to their faces in blue ink. Thelonius's reads [Good luck / always / Thelonius], and Walt's reads [The Best of / Every thing / Walt / Harper]. On the reverse is a newspaper clipping of an advertisement for the Pittsburgh Jazz Festival is adhered to the center.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1965
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Thelonious Monk, American, 1917 - 1982
• Subject of: Walt Harper, American, 1926 - 2006
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 10 × 8 1/8 in. (25.4 × 20.6 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2014.3.12
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Paxton and Rachel Baker
• 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.