Jack Johnson
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Object Details
- Artist
- Adolph Friedlander Lithography Company, active 1872 - 1938
- Sitter
- Jack Johnson, 30 Mar 1878 - 10 Jun 1946
- Exhibition Label
- Born Galveston, Texas
- This German poster portrays Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight boxing champion, as a dignified athlete of magnificent physique. Advertising a film of his 1910 fight with Jim Jeffries, the image avoids the controversies the bout caused in the United States. Social reformers, who viewed the sport as barbaric, were successful in moving the event from San Francisco to Reno. The match, pitting “the Negroes’ Deliverer” against the “Hope of the White Race,” engendered bitter racial overtones. Upsetting notions of white racial superiority, Johnson’s decisive victory caused race riots around the country, and the film was banned in many American cities. Without reference to such tensions, this image shows an angular, honed Johnson, almost machine-like in power and precision. Produced by a Hamburg company known for its circus advertising, this poster heralds the emergence of sporting events as a major entertainment industry in twentieth-century global culture.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- c. 1910
- Object number
- NPG.89.27
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Medium
- Color lithographic poster
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 94.9 × 68.6 cm (37 3/8 × 27")
- Mount: 100 × 71.4 cm (39 3/8 × 28 1/8")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Title
- Champion Match Johnson-Jeffries
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Poster
- Jack Johnson: Male
- Jack Johnson: Sports and Recreation\Athlete\Boxer
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.89.27
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4bc8dfec7-519d-44a6-97bd-4261dbef621c
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
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