Painting of Duke Ellington
date: label: date made
content: 1985
name: label: depicted
content: Ellington, Duke
label: maker
content: Ellington, Gaye
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Acrylic on canvas painting of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, done by his granddaughter, Gaye Ellington in 1985. Ms. Ellington painted this posthumous portrait in order to create a memorial that preserved her sense of the creative and loving legacy her grandfather had left her.
label: Description (Brief)
content: In a past interview, Gaye Ellington explained the reasons that led her to create this portrait, even though portraiture is not her usual subject matter: “Ever since my grandfather had died, a lot of people had done art work representing him. They were what other people saw in my grandfather. When I looked at them, they weren’t what I thought about him, and it disturbed me. … A lot of the photographs of him where very serious. I’m not saying he was always happy. But he would turn around in a minute and smile.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: referenced
content: Jazz
label: Subject
content: African American
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Highlights from the Culture and the Arts Collection
label: See more items in
content: Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1989.0369.444
label: accession number
content: 1989.0369
label: catalog number
content: 1989.0369.444
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: canvas (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 41 in x 40 in x 5 in; 104.14 cm x 101.6 cm x 12.7 cm