PHOTOGRAPH INSCRIBED BY JOSEPHINE BAKER

BAKER, Josephine. Photograph inscribed. New York: Murray Korman, circa 1937. Brown tone photograph, measuring 8 by 10 inches; matted, entire piece measures 12 by 15-1/2 inches. $2500.

Beautiful and dramatic original photograph of “the most sensational woman anyone ever saw” (Ernest Hemingway) in an evening gown by photographer Murray Korman, inscribed in purple ink, “A Monsieur Pierre Drassac, en souvenir de Josephine Baker, 1940.”

Baker “became a sensation in Paris in La Revue négre (1925), renowned for her jazz singing, dancing and exotic costumes. Naturalized as a French citizen in 1937, she worked for the Resistance in World War II” (Columbia University Press). “Baker was the first black woman to achieve international stardom. Her success in Europe was a source of joy and inspiration to many African-Americans, and her example encouraged some to look to France for life beyond the color bar. When Baker, who continued to perform all her life, died at 69, she was given a state funeral as a war hero” (Foner & Garraty, 73).

Old, inoffensive crease across bottom left of print. An about-fine, dramatic inscribed piece, suitable for framing.