Photographic print of Tenor Saw: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Two prints (.1 and .2) of a black and white vertical diptych photograph featuring Jamaican dancehall artist Tenor Saw.

Both images depict Tenor Saw standing next to a turntable and singing into a microphone. The turntable appears in the foreground, with Tenor Saw behind it, wearing a light-colored check shirt and a flat top cap. In the top image, he looks straight at the camera, holding a microphone in his proper right hand. In the bottom image, his face is turned in profile to the camera, and the microphone is held in his proper left hand. In both images, studio engineer and mixer Tulluice stands to Tenor Saw's left, wearing a Kangol hat. Behind them is a crowd of people. In the background is a building facade with a doorway at center and a window on either side.

The images have a thin black border around them. The back of 2015.132.420.1 is solid white and has an inscription on the bottom, handwritten by Bill Adler, identifying the subject, date, and photographer. The back of 2015.132.420.2 has two Kodak logos repeated in gold.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1986
• Photograph by: Wayne Tippetts, English, born 1959
• Subject of: Tenor Saw, Jamaican, 1966 - 1988
• Subject of: Christopher Tulluice Edwards, Jamaican
• Subject of: Kangol, British, founded 1938
• Type: black-and-white photographs
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W (2015.132.420.1 Sheet): 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (2015.132.420.1 Image): 13 1/2 × 10 3/16 in. (34.3 × 25.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (2015.132.420. Sheet): 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (2015.132.420.2 Image): 13 1/8 × 9 7/8 in. (33.3 × 25.1 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Dancehall (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Reggae (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2015.132.420.1-.2
• 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: © Wayne Tippetts Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.