Just over 50 years after Josephine Baker's death and nearly four since she was inducted into the Panthéon in Paris, a street art festival in the north-eastern part of the city has honoured the American performer with a mural.
The brainchild of the Paris Colors Ourq association, the work is one of several murals in the neighbourhood to promote community spirit and celebrate diverse cultural figures.
Born in St Louis, Missouri, on 3 June 1906, Baker eschewed conventions from an early age and rose to become a star singer and dancer in the 1930s, especially in France.
She later deployed that aura and her itinerant lifestyle as a cover to spy on the Nazis for the French Resistance during World War II.
She was later a fervent advocate for the civil rights movement in her homeland marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr in his campaigns for equality.
Baker an iconic figure
“Josephine Baker has always been, for me, a somewhat iconic figure of that era," said urban artist FKDL who created the mural.
"She was both wild and free-spirited, but also deeply connected to music, musicals, and dance,″ he added. ’’She was an extraordinary character, an incredible woman. The mural is also about bringing women back into the urban landscape."
Baker's zest for the alternative took her to a chateau in southern France where she raised 12 adopted children from around the world.
‘’I feel moved and I feel happy, because this is part of a memory of my mother,” her son Brian Baker told the Associated Press news agency at the unveiling of the mural.
In November 2021, Baker became the first black woman to be inducted into the Panthéon, joining luminaries as philosopher and writer Voltaire, scientist Marie Curie and the writer Victor Hugo.
’’My mother wouldn’t have liked words like iconic, star, or celebrity," said Brian Baker. "She would have said: 'No, no let’s keep it simple.'"
Two years ago in Colombes on the western fringes of Paris, artists unveiled a mural of Baker. Spanning more than 200 square meters, the mural salutes various scenes from her life.
Baker died on 12 April, 1975, a few days after starring in a retrospective revue at the Bobino in Paris to celebrate her 50 years in show business.
