Pulp International - 1929 woodcut print for the Cotton Club

Apr 23 2012

HARLEM NOCTURNE

We ain't leaving 'til the sun comes up.

Here's something wonderful we found on our recent U.S. trip. It's a 1929 woodcut print promoting Harlem's famous Cotton Club. You probably know the Cotton Club was one of America's most prominent speakeasies, if that isn't an oxymoron, and that it hosted some of the greatest jazz luminaries of the age, including Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Bessie Smith, George Gershwin, and many others. The place was mob owned, specifically by England-born gangster Owney Madden. If stories about the sheer wildness of the Cotton Club are true, this print certainly captures its spirit. The artist here is E.M. Washington, who was quite well known for his woodcuts, and whose surviving original work goes for a fortune. This particular item is a reprint, which put it well within our price range.

New York City Harlem The Cotton Club E.M. Washington Owney Madden Duke Ellington Cab Calloway Bessie Smith George Gershwin Lena Horne mafia prohibition

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