Sheldon presenting Josephine Baker exhibit, related programs in April

Josephine Baker

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary Jazz Age entertainer Josephine Baker, and the Sheldon Concert Hall and associated galleries are paying tribute to the St. Louis-born singer, dancer and actress in a big way this April.

For starters, the galleries will be presenting a major exhibition, Josephine Baker: Image and Icon, beginning April 28 and running through August 26 in the History of Jazz Gallery. "Through vintage photographs, posters, drawings, prints, paintings and ephemera, the exhibition will trace the entertainer's important and innovative contributions to the Jazz Age...The show examines the development of her image, first as the exotic "other" in a Paris infatuated by all things African, then as a glamorous cabaret star who became a vocal force in the civil rights movement." The exhibition was curated by Sheldon Art Galleries director Olivia Lahs-Gonzales and is the only exhibition celebrating Josephine Baker in the United States during her centennial year.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Sheldon Concert Hall will present a concert of early jazz and French cabaret by renowned jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater on Friday, April 21. The event will serve as a fund-raising gala for the Hall, and in addition to the concert, patrons will get a sneak peak at the Baker exhibit that opens a week later.

Other Baker-related events include an international symposium to be held on April 28; gallery talks and lectures; and screenings of three of Baker's films. Presented in conjunction with the Webster University Film Series on April 29 and 30, the mini-festival will take place at Webster's Winifred Moore Auditorium, and will include showings of Zou Zou (1934), Siren of the Tropics (1927) and Princess Tam Tam (1935).

Back at the Sheldon, there will also be a fashion show, and even a Josephine Baker Birthday Party on Saturday, June 3. To document it all, there will be a high-quality catalogue book with images from the exhibit and three essays on Baker's life and legacy. For more information and a complete schedule of events, check the Sheldon's Web site.