Singin’ in the Rain in 4K

Filled with passionate real-time musical performances, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was nominated in five Oscar categories, including Best Actress for Viola Davis as the titular blues singer. The film also won Oscars for Makeup and Hairstyling and Costume Design, two evocative aspects of this film that are currently on display in the Identity gallery at the museum. Hair designer Mia Neal created two very different wigs for Davis as blues singer Ma Rainey, including a handmade horsehair wig that recreated one originally worn by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Sergio López-Rivera devised makeup looks to reveal Rainey’s aspirations and insecurities, drawing on the doll-like beauty aesthetic of the 1920s with big eyes and thin brows.

Filled with passionate real-time musical performances, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was nominated in five Oscar categories, including Best Actress for Viola Davis as the titular blues singer. The film also won Oscars for Makeup and Hairstyling and Costume Design, two evocative aspects of this film that are currently on display in the Identity gallery at the museum. Hair designer Mia Neal created two very different wigs for Davis as blues singer Ma Rainey, including a handmade horsehair wig that recreated one originally worn by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Sergio López-Rivera devised makeup looks to reveal Rainey’s aspirations and insecurities, drawing on the doll-like beauty aesthetic of the 1920s with big eyes and thin brows.

Filled with passionate real-time musical performances, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom was nominated in five Oscar categories, including Best Actress for Viola Davis as the titular blues singer. The film also won Oscars for Makeup and Hairstyling and Costume Design, two evocative aspects of this film that are currently on display in the Identity gallery at the museum. Hair designer Mia Neal created two very different wigs for Davis as blues singer Ma Rainey, including a handmade horsehair wig that recreated one originally worn by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Sergio López-Rivera devised makeup looks to reveal Rainey’s aspirations and insecurities, drawing on the doll-like beauty aesthetic of the 1920s with big eyes and thin brows.