Snapshots of the Past

[Blind Willie McTell, with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Ga.] – Antique Print

[Blind Willie McTell, with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Ga.] — historic photograph
[Blind Willie McTell, with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Ga.]. Historic photograph from the Atlanta 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 photograph of [Blind Willie McTell, with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Ga.] brings a moment of history to your wall. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. A conversation-starting piece for home, office, or as a meaningful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

[Blind Willie McTell, with 12-string guitar, hotel room, Atlanta, Ga.]

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Blind Willie McTell sits in a hotel room in Atlanta with a twelve-string guitar, a detail that sets this picture apart from the many portraits of him that circulated during his career. The photograph was taken in November 1940, when folklorists Alan Lomax and his father John A. Lomax were recording Southern country blues and folk musicians for the Library of Congress. McTell, a blind singer and guitarist born in Georgia, was known for his fluid slide and fingerpicking style and his wide repertoire of blues, ragtime and popular songs. The image is valued as a record of a working musician in an ordinary, unglamorous setting during that field-recording era.

Medium1 photographic print.
GenreGa. hotel room Nov. 1940; 69-2148." Forms part of the Jon A. and Alan Lomax Collection ."
Notes1940 Nov.
SubjectsMcTell, Blind Willie. African Americans--Men--1940. Guitars--1940. Musicians--1940.United States--Georgia--Atlanta.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,401 × 1,485 px · prints to 5 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-126183

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