Photographic collage of a man: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A photographic collage of three (3) silver gelatin prints depicting black-and-white images of the same man. Two (2) images are of the man’s head, taken from different angles, have been cropped, cut, and pasted to the surface of a photograph of the man where he is depicted from the knees up. In the bottom photograph, the man is facing the left edge of the image. He holds a baton in his proper right hand and holds both hands in a conductor’s pose. The man is wearing a black tuxedo with tails, and a white bow tie. There is a flower attached to his proper left lapel. The two (2) cropped images of the man's head have been pasted in a diagonal, above the man's shoulder's. The photographer's mark, printed in the negative, in the bottom left corner of the photograph reads, [H. BAttELLE / N.Y.C.]. There are no inscriptions on the front of the photograph. There are several pencil notations written on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1937
• Photograph by: Hughey J. Battelle
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 6 7/16 × 4 7/16 in. (16.4 × 11.3 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 7 × 4 15/16 in. (17.8 × 12.5 cm)
• Place made: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Conductors (Musicians)
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Nightlife
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2013.46.25.202
• 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.