"Americana Prints: Rhapsody" Textile
This charming print of performing musicians is by popular 1920s cartoonist and illustrator John Held Jr., famous for depicting, and thereby perhaps helping create, the archetypal Jazz Age characters of the flapper and raccoon-coated collegiate. The design pays tribute to Rhapsody in Blue, the innovative composition written by George Gershwin in 1924 for solo piano and jazz band. It was an immediate hit from the moment it was first performed in New York City by a jazz band led by Paul Whiteman with Gershwin performing the piano solo.
Artwork Details
- Title: "Americana Prints: Rhapsody" Textile
- Designer: John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
- Manufacturer: Stehli Silks Corporation (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1897–1953)
- Date: 1927 (Series III, released spring 1928)
- Medium: Printed silk
- Dimensions: 12 5/8 x 39 1/2 in. (32.1 x 100.3 cm)
- Classification: Textiles-Printed
- Credit Line: Gift of Stehli Silks Corporation, 1927
- Object Number: 27.243.10
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Illustration by John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
1928
John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
1928
John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
1920s
John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
1929
John Held Jr. (American, Salt Lake City, Utah 1889–1958 Belmar, New Jersey)
ca. 1935
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