Photograph of the Berry Brothers: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A silver gelatin print depicting a black-and-white image of the Berry Brothers. All three young men are depicted standing in three-quarters profile, with their faces turned towards the viewer and looking upwards towards the right edge of the image, and their proper left hands in their pockets. The young men on the far left and the far right are wearing black tuxedoes with tails, white vests, and white bow ties. The young man in the center is wearing a medium toned, double breasted, tuxedo and a medium toned tie. All three tuxedos have satiny stripes running down the side of the pants. The young men are standing in front of a white background. Warren Berry is depicted on the far left, Nyas Berry in the center, and James Berry on the right. The photographer's embossed mark, located in the bottom right corner reads, [Musart / L·A·]. There are no inscriptions on the front or back of the photograph. There are pencil notations written on the back of the photograph.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1943
• Photograph by: Museart, American
• Subject of: Nyas Berry, American, 1913 - 1951
• Subject of: James Berry, American, 1915 - 1969
• Subject of: Warren Berry, American, 1922 - 1996
• Subject of: Berry Brothers, American, 1929 - 1951
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 9 11/16 × 7 11/16 in. (24.6 × 19.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 10 1/16 × 8 in. (25.5 × 20.3 cm)
• Place made: Los Angeles, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Comedy
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Tap dancing
• Topic: Vaudeville
• Object number: 2013.46.25.105
• 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.