Photograph of a female performer in costume: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of a female performer in costume. The performer is standing with her proper right leg bent and turned towards the left edge of the image. Her proper left leg is extended and her foot points towards the bottom right corner of the image. Her proper left arm is extended above her head, elbow bent, with her fingers curled, and her index finger pointing towards the top edge of the image. Her proper right arm is held across her waist. Her proper right fingers are curled and her index finger is pointing towards the top left corner of the image. She is wearing a dark colored metallic bikini top, with a metal choker, dark elbow-length arm bands, and a dark headpiece with fringe. She is also wearing a light colored, metallic bikini bottom with a swath of fabric draped down the front, and decorative flowers on her proper right hip. Her metallic colored shoes match the bikini bottoms and the arm bands match the bikini top. She stands in front of a white background. There are no inscriptions on the front or back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1930-1960
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 9 9/16 × 7 1/4 in. (24.3 × 18.4 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 10 1/8 × 8 1/16 in. (25.7 × 20.5 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Dance
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.46.25.135
• 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.