Photograph of Etta Moten Barnett and her husband Claude A. Barnett: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is a black and white photograph of Etta Moten Barnett and her husband Claude A. Barnett. They are seated next to each other in a highly decorated room. Etta Moten Barnett sits on a cream-colored wide chair, wearing a knee length black dress with short sleeves, black heels, and light colored jewelry. Her hands rest loosely in her lap. Her husband, wearing a black suit and tie over a white shirt, sits on the arm of the chair. His right arm rests on the back of the chair next to her left shoulder and his left hand rests on his knees. Their chair is located in the corner of a room furnished with numerous small chairs and tables, including a centrally placed chair made up of the large horns of an animal. The legs are each made of a single long horn, the arms are each a single horn curving backwards, and the chair back consists of several horns interlocked together. The seat has a leopard -print cover. On a large wood sideboard behind the chair is a carved elephant tusk. There are two wooden African sculptures on a shelf behind the Barnetts. The floor is covered by a white rug with a large black square grid pattern, and there are floor-to ceiling windows with white curtains behind Mr. Barnett. The photograph has several pieces of tape adhering to the sides and there are two small tears at the bottom and a larger tear on the proper left top corner.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1960
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Etta Moten Barnett, American, 1901 - 2004
• Subject of: Claude Albert Barnett, American, 1889 - 1967
• Owned by: Etta Moten Barnett, American, 1901 - 2004
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 9 15/16 × 11 13/16 in. (25.2 × 30 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (sheet): 11 1/4 × 14 in. (28.5 × 35.5 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Africa
• Topic: Black Enterprise
• Topic: Black interiors
• Topic: Broadway Theatre
• Topic: Journalism
• Object number: A2022.13.1.37
• 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.