1936 Press Photo of Josephine Baker in New York City.
New York City: 1936. Single photograph measuring 8 x 9 ½ inches with editorial overpainting. Verso with “Tribune Engraving Room” stamp dated November 1937, two articles featuring the photo with stamps dated March 1936 and December 1937, barcode sticker, and manuscript reading “Josephine Baker”. Marginal wear; excellent. Item #List2924
A photograph of Josephine Baker seated with two women, identified verso as Countess de Roissey de Sales and “Mme. Schneider”. Baker (1906–1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, actress. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and performed as a young teen in the chorus line for several Broadway musicals. In 1925 she moved to Paris (later telling a journalist that “I just couldn’t stand America”[1]), where her dancing quickly made her a star. In the mid-1930s, Baker briefly returned to the United States, where this photograph was taken; she opened a short-lived nightclub in Manhattan and starred in The Ziegfeld Follies, without commercial success. She returned to France in 1937, married Jean Lion, and renounced her American citizenship. Alongside her performances, Baker would go on to work with the French resistance during World War II, and for the American civil rights cause.
[1] Tim Murari, “Josephine Baker,” Arts Guardian, August 26, 1974, 6.
Price: $350.00