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 woman is depicted standing against a dark curtain. Her proper left arm is raised and her hand rests on the back of her head. Her proper right arm is resting on her proper right hip. She is wearing a light colored, harem-style costume, with a cropped top and wide, full length sleeves, gathered at the wrists as well as light colored, bikini bottoms. Both garments are embellished with sequins. There is an inscription in black ink at the bottom right corner of the photograph, that reads, [To Frank / I Love you / little Boy / From / Pauline / Los Angeles / Cal. / /35/]. There are no inscriptions on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1935
• Photograph by: Stiger Studio, American
• 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 and sheet): 9 5/8 × 7 3/16 in. (24.4 × 18.3 cm)
• Place collected: Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America
• Place made: Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Theatre
• Object number: 2013.46.25.143
• 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.