?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
PAUL COLIN (1892-1986) GHAM-BO. 22 3/4x15 inches. Arrington, Paris. Condition A-: tears at edges. Paper. At first glance, this image appears to promote a magic act. In reality, Gham-bo is a board game. Based on a fortune-telling principle, it is played with little numbered sticks that are pulled out of a cylinder. The numbers correspond to a list in a booklet, and whenever a stick is pulled, a little horoscope-like story is read. The game was introduced to Paris by Juliette de Gamboa (most likely a pseudonym), who contended that she discovered it in China. Along with the booklet came a host of printed celebrity endorsements from some of Juliette's famous friends. Josephine Baker is quoted as saying "With your game, dear Madame, children remain children and grow up to become children again!". Maurice Chevalier could only add "To Juliette de Gamboa with sincere greetings for her game of Gham-bo." That Colin created a poster for such an obscure product is quite telling. Many unknown female performers managed to get him to do work for them. As Colin was a well known lothario and ladies-man, it does not take much imagination to deduce the arrangement behind the production of this poster. That said, de Gamboa must have been quite a beauty and an inspiration as this image is a mysteriously intriguing balance of Art Deco and dada. The manner in which the hand, letters, numbers and eyes are rendered is reminiscent of work by Francis Picabia.
