Josephine Baker, artist and dissident

Abstract

Josephine Baker’s debut in Paris coincides with a key moment of great change in public opinion in defining French culture and French national identity. After World War II, Parisians were still under the charm of magical colonial exoticism. The French showed a great interest in Josephine Baker because of her futuristic style hybridized with African, American and French influences. This article considers colour (defining French modernism as a plurality of race), colonial modernity (French and American immigration arts), exoticism, and feminism (a new policy within the civil rights movement) within the French political and historical context. The article focuses on multiple identities, fragmented between political engagement and postmodern aesthetics. Dedicated to changing the world of dancing, Josephine’s exotic image stands today as a universal symbol of resistance to national, cultural and colonial realities