© David Bomberg estate
Originally printed by W R Frick, a Smithfields lithographer, then reproduced in a limited edition of 150 in 1983, this poster was commissioned by the Polish-Jewish poet Moshe Oved (Edward Goodack, aka Good), a founder member of the Ben Uri Art Society, as an advertisement. Oved's jewellery shop 'Cameo Corner', at 1 New Oxford Street, offered 'all sorts of barbaric and beautiful things ... at prices within reach of all', and numbered Queen Mary among its customers. The model in the foreground, seen stringing 'rare beads', is Bomberg's first wife, Alice Mayes. Pictorial devices, such as the bold bissection of the background, and retention of sharp-edged geometric forms, can be found in contemporaneous works including the painting Ghetto Theatre (1920) and the gouache Canal Bank, France (1920).
