Subway card for Harlem Song designed by Gail Anderson: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a subway card for the show Harlem Song. Along the top margin in small black script is text that reads “George C. Wolfe’s.” Large text across the top half and bottom left quadrant in block red and black letters read “HARLEM / SONG / A NEW MUSICAL / Where the Streets / ARE PAVED with RHYTHM.” The last word is written in black script. On the right-hand side mid-way down the margin is a rectangle with a black background and a red border. Within the rectangle is grey text that reads “Live on Stage / at the / World-Famous /APOLLO / THEATER.” Along the bottom margin is white text that reads “Ticketmaster -212 307-7171 – Apollo Theater – 253 West 125th Street, NYC – harlemsong.com / Going uptown as easy as A,B,C,D,1,2,3,4,5,6, & Metro North.” In the bottom right corner are three small advertisements. The right-hand most is in black block text and reads “Harlem Strategic/ Cultural Collaborative.” Next to it to the left is a double decker bus with the logo “New York Sightseeing” on the side. To the left of the bus in black block text are the words “HARLEM SPIRTUAL / GOSPEL AND JAZZ TOURS.” The background of the poster is a pale blue with the word “APOLLO” faintly visible along the top margin.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2002
• Designed by: Gail Anderson, American, born 1962
• Subject of: George Costello Wolfe, American, born 1954
• Subject of: Apollo Theater, American, founded 1934
• Type: advertising cards
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 22 × 21 in. (55.9 × 53.3 cm)
• Place depicted: Harlem, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Advertising
• Topic: Design
• Topic: Graphic design
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Object number: 2020.11.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gail Anderson
• 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: © SpotCo Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.