Le Tumulte Noir
Lot 78 in our 2nd September Century 20/21 Art auction is a limited edition portfolio of French graphic artist Paul Colin’s lithographs ‘Le Tumulte Noir’, which have become a definitive visual monument to the Jazz Age.
During the Roaring Twenties, Paris became the vibrant epicentre of the Années Folles - ‘The crazy years’ - where traditional European aesthetics collided head-on with the syncopated rhythms of American jazz.
At the very heart of this cultural renaissance stood the French Art Deco master Paul Colin (1892-1986) and his muse, the African American entertainer Joséphine Baker (1906-1975).
When Baker arrived in Paris in 1925 with the touring troupe La Revue Nègre, Colin was commissioned to design the promotional poster for the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. His striking, avant-garde design captured the collective imagination of the capital, simultaneously catapulting an unknown nineteen-year-old dancer and a young commercial artist into international superstardom.
This initial artistic spark quickly ignited a passionate, albeit brief, romantic liaison between the illustrator and the dancer. Though their romance soon transitioned into a lifelong, loyal platonic friendship, Baker remained Colin’s creative catalyst. He introduced her to the elite Parisian avant-garde, including Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, while she continued to commission him for programme covers, subsequent theatrical posters, and even the illustrations for her official memoirs.
The culmination of this creative synergy was the publication of Colin’s legendary portfolio, Le Tumulte Noir (The Black Tumult), in 1927: a limited edition of approximately 500 copies comprising forty-five double-sided lithographs that served as a visual epitome of Baker and the jazz age. Colin designed these lithographs specifically to capture Josephine Baker’s electric stage presence. In the images, she is depicted in various states of motion; dancing the Charleston, expressing joyous emotion, and most famously, wearing her iconic, Cubist-styled banana skirt from her Danse Sauvage. Other figures including musicians from her touring group, Le Revue Nègre, such as jazz bandleader Claude Hopkins are also featured.
These plates are historical documents of a bygone era, but also technically impressive. After the initial black lithographic outlines were printed, the colours were applied by hand using the traditional French pochoir, or stencil, technique. This laborious process allowed gouache paint to be brushed directly onto the paper, imparting a rich, chalky texture and a luminescence that standard commercial printing presses could never replicate.
Colin became one of the most important graphic artists of his time and continued working until the 1970s, creating nearly 2000 theatrical posters and stage sets. Baker centred her career in Europe, where she became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, and aided the French Resistance and the British intelligence service during WWII. She became a French citizen, but continued to support the Civil Rights Movement in America, refusing to perform for segregated audiences. Her final performance celebrating her 50-year career took place at the Parisian Bobino Theatre, a few days before her death in 1975.
These iconic images are a visual embodiment of the art, society, culture and race from an era when inter-war Europe faced a profound cultural shift. Shattered by the First World War, European youth rejected the old rigid traditions which had led to so much bloodshed, and embraced the explosive arrival of Jazz. In turn, African American artists found a level of social freedom and professional respect in Europe that was legally denied to them in the segregated United States.
Full lot description: Paul Colin (French, 1892-1985) - Le Tumulte Noir (1927), suite of forty-five lithographs printed on twenty-three sheets, in folio with title page and frontispiece, each sheet 47.3 x 31.8cm. Est. £500-1000
View the full collection in our catalogue here.
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