11 Vintage Photos of Musicians | Free download
Here’s a small collection of free vintage images featuring people playing musical instruments like the piano and guitar. These are curated from various public domain resources, lightly edited, and are available for personal or commercial use as they are out of copyright in the United States. If you’re from outside the US, you may have different restrictions.
To download these images, click on the image to open it to full size and then save to your computer or device.
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But if you prefer, you can also download images individually by continuing down this post.
And now: onto the images!
Victorian piano lesson
This photo feature two African-Americans at a piano, one older man with a fantastic mustache and a younger female student. It was taken in the late 1800s.
Three sisters with guitar
This photo was taken in the 1930s or 1940s. Love their dresses!
Two women sitting at piano
This photo was taken around 1909. The woman at the piano has an amazing dress!
Woman with gramophone
This photo shows Frances Densmore transcribing Native American music, taken around 1915.
Three-woman band
This photo was taken between 1910 and 1920. Their headbands are fascinating but I’m not sure I like the white dresses with dark stockings.
Military Brass Band
This photo was taken in 1922.
Dancer and Piano
This photo was taken in the late 1800s or early 1900s– seems like a staged photo for a vaudeville act, perhaps?
Man playing violin
This photo was taken between 1914 and 1917. The man playing the violin is from Appalachia, a region in Eastern United States.
Victorian woman playing piano
This photo was taken around 1871. Such a tiny piano!
Syrian musician
This photo was taken in 1905 and features a Syrian music teacher showing a group of boys how to play a rababeh, a single-stringed instrument.
World’s Largest Violin
This violin was made as a promo for a “Music week conference” held at the Hotel Commodore in New York City, in June 1922. Wow!
I hope you enjoyed these images! If you use them in a collage or junk journal spread, leave a comment and let me know!
You might also be interested in these free vintage images: