Controversial Beauty

Eve Arnold, USA. New York. Josephine Baker.

Intimate Circles, is a site dedicated to American women in the Arts. Here is a link to Jospehine Baker: http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/awia/gallery/baker.html

This is Josephine Baker, a woman who has intrigued me for many reasons, which include her moxy, courage, and eccentricity. The link above provides a newspaper article that's entitled, "100, 000 Witness Jo Baker Day". Unfortunately, I could not gain access to it  because the library database does not provide the New York Amsterdam, one of the nations most influential black newspaper, especially in the emergence of the Harlem Renaissance.

Ms. Baker, a pioneer for women artists and female expression, specifically being a black woman, which can't be dismissed as integral to her success--made her mark in Paris during the 20s as part of an all black cabaret show. She came to use her sensational success as a platform to speak against racism, particularly in America.

The photo posted above was printed in the 50s after Baker's involvement in World War II as a French spy for the French Resistance, which she was rewarded the Legion of Honor, as you'll read in the short bio on Intimate Circles. From the beginning of the war, she was very critical of the segregation of American troops, which reveals a transnational conversation and critique (as she had become a French citizen). Her critique was simulataneous with movements happening in the United States, such as the Double V Campaign.

The photo below is entitled Josephine Baker Day by Eve Arnold:

This photo was taken in the 60s when Ms. Baker returned to the United States even more vocal-- participating in the Civil Rights Movement. She spoke at the 1963 March on Washington, which gives insight into the scope of the movement and the varied participants. A black woman entertainer, with international recognition, put her career on halt to participate in something bigger than herself. But also, let's note that this was not the typical celebrity outreach we witness today--Josephine Baker lived this reality, was this reality...the reality that she was the successful exception. The successful exception due to objectification, sensationalism, and begrudging acceptance of her indisputable talent/presence. Baker's success was amidst the hypocrisy of the laws and attitudes of the land as well as perpetually intertwined with the irony of her being a black woman.

I find her life a paradox--her catapult to fame is in part of her being a talented black woman yet at the same her being a talented black woman was a threat (to society).