Josephine Baker was an American-born French entertainer, activist, and French Resistance agent. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. During her early career she was renowned as a dancer, and was among the most celebrated performers to headline the revues of the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performance in the revue Un vent de folie in 1927 caused a sensation in Paris. Her costume, consisting of only a girdle of artificial bananas, became her most iconic image and a symbol of the Jazz Age and the 1920s. Reference: Wikipedia
Sold for EUR 415,200 at Christie’s in 2006
![[PERFORMERS] BAKER, JOSEPHINE. Signed photograph.](https://antiquevintageprints.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/josephine-baker-signed-photograph.jpg)
[PERFORMERS] BAKER, JOSEPHINE. Signed photograph. . Vintage close up portrait of Baker inscribed “A Monsieur Carlo/En Souvenir de/Josephine Baker/Paris 1931. 11 x 8 1/2 inches (28.5 x 21.5 cm). Some smudging in inscription, one corner creased; Together with ROSE LEE, GYPSY. Inscribed photograph, in burlesque costume, inscribed “Geetings to Eddie/from Gypsy Rose Lee”. Inscription lightly faded; And WEST, MAE. Signed photograph, depicting West on stage in costume for Paramount Pictures, signed “Mae West”. Signature lightly faded, all items unexamined out of frames; And a clipped Dorothy McGuire inscription on card.
Sold for $562 (includes buyer’s premium) at Doyle New York in 2012
MICHEL GYARMATHY (1908-1996) Size: 36 1/4 x 50 3/4 in./92 x 136.5 cm Michel Gyarmathy, the art director of the Folies Bergère, created this extraordinary and unique art work based on the photograph by Harcourt. This final version became the basis for the classic poster promoting Josephine’s legendary return to the Folies Bergère (in the Féeries et Folies” Revue) after the end of the Second World War. In the acclaimed biography “Josephine: The Hungry Heart,” the authors Jean-Claude Baker and Chris Chase wrote of this period: “Josephine wanted to offer Paris a new Folies-Bergère; there would still be naked girls, but Josephien the war heroine would cover her body with thirty different costumes and play many famous women of history. She would be Eve, go on to the Empress Jospehine, and finally she would personify the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots” (p. 285). Hidden behind the frame is the artist’s handwritten notation: “Paul Derval présente — rouge,” suggesting that the name of the owner and producer of the Folies Bergère was to appear at the top of the poster in red. This maquette also served as the cover of “Josephine: The Hungry Heart,” published by Random House, 1993, as well as a limited edition poster.
Sold for $28,000 at Poster Auctions International in 2011
Josephine Baker,1925–1926 Adolf de Meyer American, born France The Saint Louis, Missouri–born Josephine Baker arrived in Paris in 1925 and quickly made a sensation as part of the all-black Revue Nègre, a musical entertainment that capitalized on the French craze for American Jazz. Famously donning a banana skirt for her danse sauvage, Baker crafted performances that astutely deployed the stereotypes white Europeans associated with blackness, recouping them as instruments of her own empowerment and success. Baker shines amid the glittering backdrop and soft focus of de Meyer’s photograph, creating an iconic image of stardom.
Reference: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
André-Charles Caron (20th century) Josephine (Baker) Bal Negre, 1927 Lithographic poster in colors on wove paper, printed by M. Ducelier, Paris, the full sheet, framed. sheet 31 1/2 x 25 1/4in (80 x 64.2cm)
Sold for US$ 2,000 (£ 1,605) inc. premium at Bonham’s in 2016
Beautiful vintage glossy 9 x 11.5 portrait of Baker lounging on a tiger skin rug and wearing a gorgeous gown, by Studio Keyston Talbot, prominently signed and inscribed in fountain pen, “A Directeur Waltuch, en souvenir de Josephine Baker, 1932 Wien.” In fine condition. Already an established marquee draw at the Parisian cabaret music hall Folies Bergere, Baker’s popularity had soared soared further with the 1931 release of ‘J’ai deux amours,’ the most successful song of her career. Baker is quite scarce in signed photos of this size, and this is a particularly appealing example.
Sold For $2,004 at RR Auction in 2019
