Snapshots of the Past

[Three black men in orchestra] – Historic Print

[Three black men in orchestra] — historic drawing
[Three black men in orchestra]. Historic drawing from the African American History collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This historic drawing of [Three black men in orchestra] brings a moment of history to your wall. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

[Three black men in orchestra]

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Three Black musicians sit together in an orchestral setting in this watercolor, which the catalog dates only to the years between 1884 and 1925. The record does not name the men, the ensemble, or the place, so the drawing is best read against its period. In those decades Black musicians worked in military bands, theater pit orchestras, and dance halls, while most major American symphony orchestras did not hire them. Depictions of Black men as skilled instrumentalists were uncommon in that era, which makes this small work worth a closer look.

Medium1 drawing : watercolor.
Notes[between 1884 and 1925]
SubjectsAfrican Americans--Arts & craftsMusicians
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan4,661 × 3,751 px · prints to 16 × 13 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-221012

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