The Weary Blues: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

The Weary Blues hardcover book written by Langston Hughes. The front cover features a drawing of a man sitting with his head raised upward. His body faces a piano and his arms are raised above the keys. The background of the book is orange and yellow, the man and piano are in in black. Black type at the top reads: [THE WEARY BLUES]. Yellow type at the bottom reads: [By / Langston Hughes]. The interior has 109 pages of black type on off-white paper. The back cover has a stylistic image of piano keys and two boxes.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1926; published 1945
• Published by: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., American, founded 1915
• Written by: Langston Hughes, American, 1902 - 1967
• Written by: Carl Van Vechten, American, 1880 - 1964
• Illustrated by: Miguel Covarrubias, Mexican, 1904 - 1957
• Owned by: Barry Greenstein, American
• Type: hardcover books
• Medium: ink on paper with book cloth (textile material) on cardboard , plastic (cover)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Closed): 7 1/2 × 5 3/8 × 7/8 in. (19.1 × 13.7 × 2.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W x D (Open): 7 1/2 × 10 13/16 × 11/16 in. (19.1 × 27.5 × 1.7 cm)
• Place depicted: Harlem, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Blues (Music)
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Literature
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Poetry
• Object number: 2014.304.90
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Barry Greenstein
• 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: © Alfred A. Knopf, Inc division of Random House Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.