Aldophe Sax, Belgian instrument maker and inventor of the saxophone, was born this day in 1814.Although Sax obtained a patent for the saxophone in 1846, bringing him fame and wealth, he died in poverty in 1894.
Sax Appeal
Aldophe Sax, Belgian instrument maker and inventor of the saxophone, was born this day in 1814.Although Sax obtained a patent for the saxophone in 1846, bringing him fame and wealth, he died in poverty in 1894.
Romare Bearden features Sax's instrument in this artwork from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In Bopping at Birdland, Bearden creates a translucent, painterly image of a musician playing saxophone to a rapt audience. The title refers to the bop, an early 1950s dance made famous at the New York nightclub, Birdland, which was named after the influential saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker.
Source: Louise Reeves. African American Art: Recent Acquisitions (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999–2000).
Pictured: Romare Bearden, 1912–88, Bopping at Birdland (Stomp Time), from the Jazz Series, 1979, color lithograph, 24 x 33 1/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Eugene I. Schuster.