José Williams Playing the Sax

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A portrait of artist and jazz musician, José J. Williams, in watercolor on light green wove paper by Wadsworth Jarrell. The colorful double portrait depicts two views of Williams during a live performance, surrounded and overlaid by round bursts of watercolor in black, blue, green, orange, red, pink, and yellow. In the left depiction, Williams’s eyes are closed as he leans back slightly, playing his soprano saxophone. He is painted with curly black hair and wearing a bright green shirt, yellow belt, and red fading to white trousers. In the right depiction, Williams plays in a forward, bending stance, wearing a blue shirt and pink trousers. In the bottom right corner of the painting is the artist’s signature [Wadsworth A. Jarrell] in dark blue watercolor.

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