Lot 137
An enamel seal, circa 1910-1930
Formerly owned by Josephine Baker
£3,276
Auction: 23 October 2024 From 14:00 BST
Description
Of bulbous form, decorated throughout with royal blue guilloché enamel, highlighted towards the base by a single band of red enamel, the matrix engraved “Josephine Baker”, unidentified assay mark, height 6.2cm
Provenance
Gifted to Josephine Baker from an admirer. Then in the private collection of a well-known Munich Consul General who was a personal friend of Baker. The Matrix Collection. Josephine Baker made her debut in Berlin as the “Black Venus” in 1926 and that is likely where the relationship formed. From his personal collection sold at auction in 1996 in Munich, Lot 3408.
The Matrix Collection.
Footnote
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother worked as a washerwoman and the identity of her father has never been confirmed. Her childhood was one of great hardship and deprivation. At the age of 8 she worked as a domestic servant, a role in which she was abused. By the age of 12 she was living on the streets and working as a dancer, at times just on street corners. She married at just 13 but the marriage didn't last a full year. At that time she began a performance touring career as a dancer and comic. She remarried in 1921, aged 15, to William Howard Baker, and despite their divorce in 1925, Josephine retained the name Baker for the remainder of her life.
By 1923 Baker had appeared as part of the chorus in her first Broadway production, Shuffle Along. However her career did not really take off until she travelled to France in 1925. Her performances at the Théatre des Champs-Elysees caused a sensation. She became amongst the highest paid performers in Europe. Her career continued to escalate and in 1934 she stared in the French film Zouzou, the first major film with a black woman in the leading role.
Baker's career became solidified in France. The racial injustices she witnessed in her home country of the United States ultimately led her to give up her U.S. citizenship and became a naturalised French citizen. From very early on in her career Baker undertook philanthropic giving, particularly around the plight of children.
At the outbreak of World War II in France, Baker entertained French troops, was a member of the Red Cross and ultimately became a member of the French Resistance. She was a valued member of the Deuxième Bureau, the French military intelligence agency. Her role as an entertainer allowed her to mix in wide social circles and travel internationally without arousing suspicion. Following the war she was highly decorated for her services.
In the 1950s Baker continued her work as an internationally acclaimed entertainer although she was never to reach the level of fame in the United States as she did throughout Europe and North Africa. She refused to preform to segregated crowds and fought against racism both as a performer and as a member of society. She was awarded a lifetime membership to the NAACP. In 1963 she spoke alongside Dr Martin Luther King Jr. as part of the March on Washington, the only female speaker at the event.
Her quest to end racism, coupled with her own personal inability to have children, led her to form her “Rainbow Tribe” at her home, the Château des Milandes, in the Dordogne area of France. Baker adopted twelve children, two girls and ten boys, from various nationalities and religions to prove that "children of different ethnicities and religions could still be brothers."
Late in life, from 1968 to 1975, Baker returned to the stage performing in Paris, Carnegie Hall in New York and the Royal Variety Performance in London. Her final performance was a retrospective show in Paris, financed by Prince Rainer, Princess Grace, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She was found unconscious in bed four days later, surrounded by newspapers containing rave reviews for her performance. Josephine Baker died a few days later from a brain haemorrhage while in hospital.
