Ceramics and Pottery Arts and Resources

 

 Josephine Baker wearing a flounced dress – 1930

 

 

 

Josephine brings her Va Va Voom to Paris

 

Josephine Baker was an integral part of the Jazz Age. Her irrepressible charm and panache was embraced immediately by Parisians when she arrived in Paris in 1925 as a 19 yo dancer, during the peak of the French obsession with American Jazz and all things exotic. The promotional tools of the print media, developed successfully in the Art Nouveau era, were ready for a star in the Jazz Age and Josephine delivered in spades with her  joie de vivre. She became the toast of the Paris cabaret clubs and headlined at the famous Folies Bergères known by names as the “Black Pearl,” “Bronze Venus” and even the “Creole Goddess” . She was a muse to numerous talented artists and her expressive, comedic, uninhibited performances made her a famous icon of the Jazz Age. Pablo Picasso said that Josephine had the smile to end all smiles.
During the 1950s, Baker frequently returned to the United States to lend support to the Civil Rights Movement, participating in demonstrations and boycotting segregated clubs and concert venues. While looking over the crowd at the 1963 March on Washington, Josephine stated “Salt and pepper. Just what it should be.”
She had to wait until 1973 in the United States before she was accepted for her boundless talent and activism. She was greeted with a standing ovation at the beginning of her performance at Carnegie Hall in New York, which reduced her to tears, as she stood six inches deep in the roses that were thrown on the stage.  Josephine Baker became the first black woman to achieve international stardom.

In her humble self assessment –

“I have never been a great artist. I have been a human being that has loved art, which is not the same thing. But I have loved and believed in art and the idea of universal brotherhood so much, that I have put everything I have into them, and I have been blessed.”

 Josephine Baker bust  – Stephanie Farago

 

Her natural flair for glamour and sophistication and her large collection of exotic animals was one of the contributing factors that made this a recurring theme in the Art Deco arts. She personified the exuberant abandon of the Jazz era and the spontaneous free expression and energy of her charismatic performances had an influence on the proliferation of dynamic, cubist designs in the Jazz Age art. Josephine’s chic, modern, confident style also helped to popularize this style in Art Deco, which she epitomized with her sleek and glamorous outfits. The Jazz Cleopatra, one of her many titles, became an embodiment of the Modernist art movement combining Primitivism, Expressionism and Cubism and her bronzed feminine form was immortalized in many of the bronze figurines created during this era. The great art deco poster designer, Paul Colin, did many amazing posters featuring Josephine with stylized form and cubist geometry.

The Jazz Age, which ran from the end of WW1 to the beginning of the Depression had an art form that was characterised by elongated silhouettes, clean angular lines and blocks of bold colour. Spontaneous movement was depicted with abstract cubist geometric designs and  zig zag lines, which also had an indirect reference to the two zz’s in Jazz.

Art pieces inspired by Josephine Baker and the Jazz Age

Carlton Ware ‘Jazz’ series vase, design by Enoch Boulton

© Terry Wise 2009

carltonwareworld.com

 

 

Josephine Baker

 

 

 Aux Poissons vase  – Mougin

 

 

 

Bronze statuette  Josephine Baker

 

 

 

Josephine Baker

 

 

 

Jazz Age porcelain vase -Morimura Noritake / Green Marks

 Lacquer Screen – Jean Dunand

 

 

 

Jazz Age Vogue

 

 

 

Art Deco metalwork from the facade of the Chanin Building, NY

 

 

 

Josephine Baker at the Casino de Paris

Photo – Luis Ramon Marin

1930s

 

 

Royal Art Pottery – Jazz Age Jug

Lillehammer Lane Antique Mall, UK

 

 

Josephine Baker ” Bakerfix” Hair Brilliantine bust

 

 

 

Movie ‘Princesse Tam Tam’ – Josephine Baker

1935

 

 

 

‘Sahdji’ (Tribal Women) – Aaron Douglas, , 1925

Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

 

 

Josephine Baker cartoon from the German Magazine Ulk – 1928

 

 

 

Edouard Cazaux, French Art Deco

 

 

Art Deco panel – Rene Buthaud

 

 

‘Belg La Danse’ – Charles Catteau

 

 

Josephine Baker performing in her Monte Carlo show ” The Josephine Baker Story “

 Photo – Jack Garofalo

Getty Images

 

 

Josephine and panther figurine – Haeger

c.Felton – flickr

 

 

 

Jazz Age vase – Charles Catteau

 

 

Karel Palda – Geometric Czech Art Deco /Jazz Age vase

 

 

 

“The Dance” magazine Jazz Age cover

 

‘African Fantasy–The Awakening’ – Winold-Reiss（1886ー1953）

c 1925

 

 

 

Large Sevres Jazz Age baluster vase – 1927, France

Height 37cm

Drouot.com

 

 

Art Deco sculpture – Erte

 

 

 Folies Bergere, Paris

 

 

 

 

Josephne Baker bust – Franz Hagenauer

 

 

 French Josephine Baker brooch

 

 

 Trois feminine – Erte

 

 

 

 

Giuseppe Armani ceramic figurine

 

 

 

Josephine Baker scultpture by Karl Hagenauer

 

 

 

Cubist Jazz Age Josephine Baker poster

 

 

 

Danseuse aux Boules – Maurice and Marcel Denis, Max Le Verrier

1925 –  1937

 

 

 

 

Spherical cubist jazz age vase – Josef Herbe

 

 

 

Josephine Baker, c1950  Studio Harcourt, Paris

 

 

 

Dancer with Borzoi by Abel R. Philippe

Polyvore

 

Alexander Calder – 1941

 

 

Josephine Baker by Studio Harcourt

 

 

 

Bronze figurine of Josephine Baker – Karl Hagenauer

 

 

 

Josephine Baker – Probably a Le Vie Parisienne illustration

 

 

 

Josephine Baker cookie jar by Michael and Shelley Buonaiuto

 

 

Jazz Age Cubist sculpture figurines by Prrimavera

1930

 

 

 

Kiki – Pablo Gargallo

 

 

 

Vase Atelier Art Deco Faure Limoges 1925-1933

 

 

 

Josephine Baker art poster 1935

One of the many movies that Josephine Baker starred in.

 

 

 

Dancers Plate – Rene lalique

1943

 

 

 

‘Harlem’ – Robert Cook

1992

 

 

 

Carlton Ware – ‘Jazz’– vase designed by Enoch Boulton, an expression of the  zeitgeist of the Jazz Age, 1930

© Harvey Pettit 2009

carltonwareworld.com

 

 

‘Acquacade’ – Robert Hoppe

 

 

 

Jazz Age Art deco theatre with Josephine Baker and Louis Armstrong wall panels.

Pollaro Interiors,USA

 

 

 

Charles Catteau

 

 

 

Art Deco/Jazz Age jug – Pickard

1920

 

 

 

Charles Catteau & Boch Frères Keramis

1927

 

 

 

Josephine Baker at the Folies Bergere,Paris

1926

 

 

Jamaican Pottery vase

NooRotic- flickr

Carved lucite and ebony abstract Josephine Baker brooch.

 

 

 

Josephine Baker billboard  –‘Paris mes amours’, at the Olympia. Paris

On the streets of Sevres, 1959

Roger Viollet – Getty Images

Josephine Baker with 3 of her 12 adopted children in 1964

Gamma Rapho – Getty Image 111074049

Joesphine Baker Diva Queen at the Lido in Paris, 1973

Photo by Michel Ginfray, GammaRapho – Getty Image

Josephine Baker sculpture by Niki De Saint Phalle

Jazz Bowl-An American Art Deco Icon designed by Cowan Pottery Viktor Schreckengost for Cowan Pottery

 

 

 

Josephine Baker in the 1935 movie ‘Princesse Tam Tam’

 

 

Black Thunder poster – Paul Colin

 

 

‘Josephine’  statuette – Giuseppe Armani

 

 

Art Deco painting with Josephine Baker by Emile Compard

1926

Ψ

 

 

“When You’re Smiling ( the whole world smiles with you )”  – a song off  Dr. John’s new album  “Ske-Dat-De-Dat: The Spirit of Satch”  and Josephine Baker with her sparkling smile outdazzling her outfits.

 

 

 

Josephine Baker – another elaborate costume

 

 

 

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