Chicago-born Katherine Dunham has been called the matriarch and queen mother of black dance. While a student at the University of Chicago, she took a leave of absence to study Caribbean dance and ethnography—a performance path she'd follow for the rest of her life. 1947 was a huge year for her. She began it by choreographing the musical play Windy City, which debuted in her hometown; then she opened a cabaret show in the brand-new tourist destination of Las Vegas, and followed that up with tours in Mexico and Europe, where she was an immediate sensation. Colin's poster, a spiritual successor to his world famous Revue Nègre and Bal Nègre (see Nos. 76 and 78) for Josephine Baker, captures the Windy City jazz opening in Paris: all fishnets and flappers and zoot suits and gangster hats.
Imp. Bedos, Paris
literature: Colin 98; PAI-LXXXVI, 203