Object Details
- Artist
- Adolph Friedlander, active 1904 - 1934
- Sitter
- Long Tack Sam, 16 Sep 1885 - 7 Aug 1961
- Exhibition Label
- Born Cangzhou, China
- After training as an acrobat and magician in his native China, Long Tack Sam journeyed to the United States and became one of vaudeville’s brightest stars. Although he was based in New York from about 1900 and performed primarily in the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act denied him the possibility of U.S. citizenship and kept him on the move. He performed in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. As a Chinese man competing against a slew of fake-Asian magicians in “yellow-face,” Long Tack Sam was in a paradoxical position.
- This poster illustrates his conscious use of luxurious embroidered costumes and elaborate scenery to enhance his mystique and capitalize on Western notions of “the mysterious Orient.” Yet he also wrote newspaper articles correcting Western misconceptions of his homeland, and he refused invitations to appear in early Hollywood films featuring negatively stereotyped Chinese opium addicts and laundry workers.
- Después de entrenarse como acróbata y mago en su China natal, Long Tack Sam se mudó a Estados Unidos y se convirtió en una de las más grandes estrellas de vodevil. Aunque se radicó en Nueva York desde 1900 y actuaba principalmente en Estados Unidos, la Ley de Exclusión de Chinos le negó la posibilidad de obtener la ciudadanía estadounidense y lo obligó a viajar constantemente. Se presentó en Suramérica, Europa, Asia y Australia. Como artista chino que tenía que competir con muchos falsos magos asiáticos “pintados de amarillo”, Long Tack Sam se encontraba en una posición paradójica.
- Este cartel ilustra su uso consciente de lujosos trajes bordados y elaborados escenarios para realzar su aire místico y sacar partido a las nociones occidentales del “Oriente misterioso”. Sin embargo, también escribió artículos periodísticos donde corregía las equivocaciones de Occidente acerca de su tierra natal y se negó a aparecer en varias de las primeras películas de Hollywood que presentaban estereotipos negativos de los chinos como lavanderos y opiómanos.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquisition made possible through Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
- 1919
- Object number
- NPG.2016.115
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Medium
- Color lithograph on paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 95 × 71.6 cm (37 3/8 × 28 3/16")
- Place
- Deutschland\Hamburg\Hamburg
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Title
- The World Renown [sic] Long Tack Sam
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Exterior
- Architecture\Building
- Architecture\Bridge
- Nature & Environment\Mountain
- Long Tack Sam: Male
- Long Tack Sam: Arts & Culture\Performing Arts\Performer\Vaudeville performer
- Long Tack Sam: Arts & Culture\Performing Arts\Performer\Magician
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2016.115
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm43ea95894-fb70-4d6c-bf3a-2a1d48862964
