Exhibition “Josephine Baker. Freedom, equality, humanity” in Bonn

An exhibition dedicated to the legendary dancer and actress Josephine Baker is being held in Bonn. Her biography with the participation of Le Corbusier and Frida Kahlo could become the basis of a television series for a dozen seasons, but for now it fits into several halls of the Exhibition Hall in Germany. Tells Alexey Mokrousov.

Those who consider Anna Pavlova the most famous dancer of the 20th century have always had a problem with the name Josephine Baker (1906–1975). The latter is remembered today no less often, and from the point of view of its influence on culture – even more often; in Bonn, an exhibition dedicated to it is now being held after exhibitions about Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir.

When the 19-year-old rising star of New York’s Harlem and then Broadway arrived in Paris in 1925, hardly anyone imagined that less than a century later she would be honored with a tomb in the Pantheon. Despite Covid, masks and general fear, French President Emmanuel Macron led the ceremony on November 30, 2021 – Baker became the sixth woman in the Pantheon, along with Marie Sklodowska-Curie and Simone Weil. The body itself, however, remained in the cemetery in Monaco, and a cenotaph was installed in the Pantheon.

So a mulatto from a poor family in St. Louis, Missouri, was recognized as a great Frenchwoman. Isn’t it a strange decision in favor of a dancer, singer and film actress, despite the fact that many sang and danced better, and in terms of beauty, opinions about Baker differ?

In New York, Baker was once noticed by an agent who was looking for dancers for the Negro Revue in Paris. The former head of the Swedish Ballet, Rolf de Mare, organized it at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, where The Rite of Spring had recently performed. Big-eyed, making faces and dancing against all the rules, Baker immediately became a star. The apotheosis of success can be considered concerts at the Folies Bergere cabaret, where she performed in a skirt made of bananas – the bananas were artificial, otherwise they would have instantly scattered across the stage, or even into the auditorium, even though many would have considered this a blessing. She often danced completely naked; in a number of cities, including Vienna and Munich, she was banned from performing; in others she was a resounding success.

France, like the whole of Europe at that time, was not free from racism, the appearance of black performers was mercilessly played out in cartoons and posters, the infamous “Colonial Exhibitions” traveled across the continent. But Paris fell in love with Baker as if she were her own – for the Charleston shown and the fashion for jazz dance she introduced: she became a trendsetter and a style icon. The French regularly consumed hair and cosmetics from Baker; claims that Baker was the reincarnation of the “black Venus” whom Baudelaire idolized were not central to the marketing of showbiz’s first black star. The comparison with Venus itself belongs to the Russian critic Andre Levinson, who did not like Diaghilev, but admired Baker – as did Chaplin, Hemingway, Max Reinhardt and Diaghilev’s co-author Count Harry von Kessler.

The theme “Baker and Architecture” occupies a special place in Bonn. On the one hand, this is an unrealized project for a house for Baker, made by Adolf Loos in 1927 – the author counted it among his best, which makes it all the more interesting to look at the drawings. On the other is a portrait of the sleeping Josephine by Le Corbusier. During their romance on the transatlantic flight of the Lutetia liner in 1929, the architect was so struck by the personality of his beloved that he wrote about what was happening to his mother – and then hid these letters all his life. Baker herself did not hide much; a century ago, traditional values ​​were destroyed in a collective impulse – here is an affair with Colette, quite short and not particularly happy, and then with Frida Kahlo. But the fans prevailed; a total of five husbands, 12 adopted children, including a Finn and a Japanese, and Georges Simenon as a personal secretary at the beginning of his life.

And who didn’t draw or sculpt Baker! From Klee and Masereel to Beckmann and Picasso, including Calder and the Baku-based Russian sculptor Sebastian Tamari (1900–1991), the gallery of portraits would do honor to a reputable museum; Klee, Corbusier, Tamari and others are exhibited this time in Bonn.

Baker played three leading roles in French films of the 1930s, including 1935’s Princess Tom-Tam (he later had a lingerie brand named after him). A year later, she went to America, where she was coldly greeted by both critics and the receptionists of expensive hotels who refused to accommodate her. History repeated itself in 1951; For the American Baker, who survived the Ku Klux Klan pogrom as a child, this was not a surprise; for the French Baker, the owner of an ancient castle in the Dordogne, it should have seemed crazy. In Florida, she made a revolution by ensuring that spectators were allowed into concerts regardless of race – in Miami the hall was full of blacks. In 1963, she participated with Martin Luther King at a rally during the March on Washington, where he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The exhibition tells a lot about her public life, and it is called “Josephine Baker. Freedom, equality, humanity.” After the war, Baker fought for the rights of blacks, and in the war itself she participated on the side of de Gaulle, and at one time she was the most classic spy. She traveled throughout Europe and Africa, met with Mussolini, hid secret materials in scores – she was never inspected, she was escorted across the border as a VIP, which made it easier to carry out secret missions.

The only thing missing from the exhibition is a telegram of sympathy to Nikita Khrushchev, sent after his removal in 1964 and which began promisingly: “from reports in the international press it is not clear to me where I can find you” (signed “Josephine Baker and her children, representing the whole world”). The ending would be symbolic.