Realphoto Postcard of Francois “Feral” Benga.
Paris: c. 1930. Real photo postcard measuring 5 ½ x 3 ½ inches. Fine condition. Item #List3643
A photograph of the Senegalese dancer and model Francois “Feral” Benga, taken by the photographer Walery (Stanislaw Julian Ignacy Ostrorog) circa 1930 during his period at the Folies Bergere in Paris. Waléry photographed Benga at the height of interwar Paris, when cabaret culture, modernist aesthetics, and cosmopolitan celebrity intersected. This refined studio portrait—toned real photo gelatin silver prints bearing Waléry’s Paris studio credit—presents Benga with a sculptural quality. Waléry was most associated with performers and the staged elegance of European portrait photography. Benga himself, a celebrated Folies Bergère performer and figure within avant-garde artistic and queer circles, emerges here not simply as exotic spectacle but as a modern icon. Overall a compelling mix of celebrity portraiture, Black modernist history, and the polished theatricality of Parisian studio photography. Price reference: Swann Galleries LGBTQ+ Sale, August 17, 2023, Lot 17 (Four images from this series, selling for $4,500).
Price: $850.00