La Revue des Folies-Bergere: La Folie du Jour Quatrième Album 1926-1927.

BAKER Josephine; FOLIES BERGÈRE (1926.)

£650.00  [First Edition]

A LOVELY COPY

First edition. 4to. Richly illustrated throughout with coloured "heliochromie" and halftone photographs. Staplebound booklet with original cut-out wrappers in embossed gilt on blue coated card. With original glassine wrapper, some slight nicks and small closed tears at edges, small biro price to top left, internally blight and clean with only minor rust to staples. A lovely copy. [44pp]. Paris, Éditions Artistiques de Paris,

A lavish programme for the legendary cabaret revue La Folie du Jour, staged at Parisienne music hall the Folies Bergère between 1926-27 and starring American expat Josephine Baker in a career defining role. 

 

St Louis born dancer, singer and civil-rights activist Josephine Baker (1906-1975) made her first appearance on the Paris stage in October 1925 at the Théâtre des Champ Elysées, as part of an all-Black touring production, La Revue Nègre. She was an instant hit with French audiences, mixing erotic and comic styles in a "fusion of ballet steps, popular American dances such as the Charleston and Black Bottom, and ... elements taken from South American and Cuban dance" (ANB). She returned to Paris the following year to star in the burlesque extravoganza showcased in this programme. 

 

As the many photographs attest, the costumes and staging devised for La Folie du Jour were on a spectacular scale. With elements of drag and comedy, many of the dancers appeared nude or semi-nude, and the production saw the debut of Baker's most famous set piece "Fatou", where she performed in a skirt of rubberised bananas and jewellery. This brochure features a double page spread of Baker in costume: a look which would become synonymous with Paris in the 1920s, as well as the burgeoning Art Deco movement. Also featured is her feather fan costume.

 

Baker remained in Paris, and took French citizenship in 1937. She joined the French Resistance during WWII and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. When she toured America as a major celebrity after the war, she demonstrated her solidarity with the Civil Rights Movement by refusing to perform before segregated audiences. Upon her death, she received a French state funeral, and in 2021 she was the first Black woman to be inducted into the Pantheon.

 

OCLC finds copies at Yale, Boston Public, Cleveland Museum of Art, Brown University and BNF only. 

Stock Code: 246605

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