Portrait of Jazz age composer George Gershwin by artist William Auerbach-Levy. Gershwin is seated at the piano wearing a light blue bathrobe with purple, yellow, pink and red stripes. His fingers are on the piano as if playing but the keys are not delineated, there are only black and white bars where the keys should be. There is a small, squat green glass bottle on the right hand side of the piano and a short lamp with an oversized pale shade with light blue tassels on the left. Gershwin is pictured with either a five o’clock shadow or an early morning pre-shave growth of beard.

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Object Timeline

	We acquired this object.
1926	Work on this object began.
2017	We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We exhibited this object.
2024	You found it!

George Gershwin at Piano

It was painted by William Auerbach-Levy.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Museum of the City of New York as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

It is dated 1926. Its medium is oil on canvas.

George Gershwin helped bring jazz into the mainstream with his series of symphonic compositions such as Rhapsody in Blue (1924) featuring syncopation and jazz styling, influenced by his connections with the Harlem Renaissance. Artist William Auerbach-Levy, best known as a caricaturist, depicted many Jazz Age artists, actors, society figures, and musicians, and such portraits appeared in popular periodicals.

It is credited Lent by Museum of the City of New York. Gift of Max D. Levy, 1967, 67.109.

A large rectangular portrait of Myron Herrick rendered in oil paint on canvas. He is seated on a chair that is angled to the left and he is on an angle to the right where he is facing the viewer. His torso is right of center and his legs are left of center. He is dressed in black and white formal attire with a bright red sash on a diagonal peeking out above his vest on the left with medals affixed on the right side flowing from under his jacket. HIs open right hand is resting comfortably on his right leg while his left hand is closed in a fist resting on his left left. The background is painted in blacks and browns in a painterly style. The painting is encased by a giltwood frame with egg-and-dart, vegetal, and rocaille decoration.

Portrait of Myron Herrick, ca. 1922
oil on canvas.
Lent by Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio, The Greater....
75.2016.1

Textile, Americana Print: Rhapsody
silk.
Gift of Marian Hague.
1937-1-3

Orchestra Bracelet
diamonds, platinum, cabochon sapphires, carved onyx.
Neil Lane Collection.
59.2016.20

Its dimensions are

H x W x D (framed): 114 × 139.7 × 3.8 cm (44 7/8 in. × 55 in. × 1 1/2 in.) H x W (unframed): 101 × 126.4 cm (39 3/4 × 49 3/4 in.)

We have 1 media file that features George Gershwin at Piano.

"Rhapsody In Blue," Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra, featuring George Gershwin (1924)

George Gershwin is, simply put, an American treasure. While “American Popular Song,” “Tin Pan Alley,” and orchestral works are all a vital part of his catalog, “Rhapsody In Blue” is...

https://archive.org/details/rhapblue11924

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2oaJxz/
Accession Number 76.2016.3
Object ID 907218807