This is not just a biography of the artist Josephine Baker, even if Jacques Pessis is known for example for his series on France 5 “The lights of the music hall”, “The refrains of memory” or “The spirit of the times”. Him, who wrote many artist biographies and many shows (like “Piaf, a life in pink and black” or “Mistinguett, queen of the Roaring Twenties”), also has a passion for history and historical narratives.
In 2007, a year after the centenary of the birth of Joséphine Baker, Jacques Pessis embarked on the biography of this Woman who was much more than an artist. According to him, at that time, we only remember a few things: her appearance in the Revue Nègre in 1925 and her song “I have two loves”, but she is also, and above all, a woman of values, courageous, modern, who will campaign for freedom, by engaging in the French intelligence services, who will fight against racism and who will of course train her tribe arc -in sky.
For Jacques Pessis, Josephine Baker is “a woman of the century ahead of her time”.
– Folio
Joséphine Baker by Jacques Pessis, can be found at Folio Biographies.