Lot 15: Josephine Baker/Asian Amble.

Josephine Baker/Asian Amble.
LUCIEN BERTAUX (1905-?)

Hand-signed watercolor and ink costume design on board.
Bertaux outfits Baker in an ensemble adrift with Asian excess, a flow of brocade and fabric topped with a jewel-encrusted extravagance. Lovely, exotic and magnetic. In essence what we're given-a stylish, vivacious, well-heeled woman of the period-is considerably more important than the more-often-seen-than-not caricature we're denied. Not only was Josephine Baker the first global Black superstar, she was a liberating force in promoting the Black image to a mass market in an unexaggerated manner. Quite an unprecedented move in an age where the inherent racism of the black-face performer still lingered.

14 x 19 3/4 in./35.5 x 50.1 cm