?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
LE TUMULTE NOIR. 1927. Portfolio, extra-complete with two covers, two chemises and 22 plates. Condition varies, generally A-: stain on upper left corner of red chemise, affecting several plates only marginally; minor foxing on some plates. The Tumulte Noir is a luxurious portfolio consisting of 42 original lithographs by Colin, all hand-colored in pochoir, an elaborate procedure involving stencils for each different color. An advertisement in the extremely rare program from the Bal Negre makes it clear that this album was designed for and sold at this special one-night event, which was Colin's brainchild and tribute to the "black craze" of Paris. Only 500 copies were printed, and each portfolio includes a facsimile of a letter of introduction written by Josephine Baker, a preface by Rip (the satirist George Thenon), and a sort of calligrame in the shape of a palm tree by Colin. This copy is not only complete, but it also has a double cover and the rarely seen insert bearing the French advisory "there is no advertising page in this album." The album is divided into two parts, the first one is dedicated to Josephine Baker and the black musicians and dances. Exquisitely stylized, drawn with a free hand, full of wit, movement, and invention it is Paul Colin at his very best. The second part is a satire of Paris under the spell of the Charleston rage. Following in the steps, and very much in the style, of Sem, Colin is cartooning in funny and sometimes cruel satire, the Parisian music hall stars of the moment: Mistinguett, Maurice Chevalier, Cecile Sorel, the Dolly Sisters, as well as the chansonniers Rip and Saint-Granier (see lot 37), a cubist Jean Borlin of the Ballet Suedois, and even the tennis champion Suzanne Lenghen. Le Tumulte Noir is the best album depicting Paris in the throes of the Charleston craze. It is very rare to find this portfolio complete (in addition to the edition of 500, 10 copies were printed on Japan paper and 10 others on Madagascar Vellum), as most existing copies have been broken up.
