See more objects with the tag graphic design, music, jazz, exoticism.

Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1921

  • Work on this object began.

2017

2025

  • You found it!

Sheet Music, The Sheik of Araby

This is a Sheet music.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

It is dated 1921. Its medium is printed paper. It is a part of the Smithsonian Libraries department.

This song was a Tin Pan Alley hit, and was adopted by early jazz bands in New Orleans, making it a jazz standard. It was composed in response to the popularity of the 1921 Rudolph Valentino film The Sheik. The cover illustrates the song’s themes of romance and seduction.

It is credited Smithsonian Libraries, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Library, M1622.S688 S54 1921, Gift of Stephen Van Dyk.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 31 × 23 cm (12 3/16 × 9 1/16 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/907214041/ |title=Sheet Music, The Sheik of Araby |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>