Composite photograph of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white composite image of Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson. The men’s heads have been cropped and printed against a white background. Johnson’s head, depicted on the right, is slightly overlaid over Olsen’s head, on the left. Johnson is depicted with a wide smile and he is looking toward the top, right corner of the image. He is wearing a light colored fedora with a turned up brim. Olsen is looking towards the viewer, with wide eyes. He is wearing a round, plaid hat with a large, turned up brim. There are several inscriptions in blue ink on the recto. In the top left corner is an inscription that reads, [To / LAURE] with the name written in bubble letters. Below, on the left edge, an inscription that reads, [from / the / maniacs]. Along the bottom edge are inscriptions written in differing hands that read [OLSEN] and [and Johnson]. There are no inscriptions on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1952
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Ole Olsen, American, 1892 - 1963
• Subject of: Chic Johnson, American, 1891 - 1962
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image and Sheet): 8 1/16 × 10 in. (20.5 × 25.4 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Vaudeville
• Object number: 2013.46.25.185
• 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.