Introduction

Paris is the French capital city which is located on the Seine River and in the northern side of the country. It is also the most populous city France with estimated population of 2,234,105 as at 2009. The city is known for several other reasons such as sports and other social aspects. However, the French capital is well known for its relationship with several American artistes. Over the last several years, the Paris city has contributed immensely to the success of several American artistes. In this chapter, we will better understand how the capital city has contributed to several artistic works accomplished by several Americans. Our major concern will be Josephine Baker, Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. The paper will unearth how the Paris city has contributed to the flourishing of their work and how the city has been crucial to their work and overall life.

Josephine Baker

Josephine Baker was an American singer and dancer who was born on 3^rd June 1906 in St. Louis Missouri. Her artistic work thrived very well and thus led to her being known with other names such as “Black Pearl,” “Bronze Venus” and even the “Creole Goddess”. What made the lady a more special woman is because she became the first African –American woman to feature in a major film. She also contributed immensely to civil rights movements which made her even more famous especially in the Second World War.

However, it is important to understand how Paris- the French capital- contributed to her success in her dancing and singing career. Josephine baker traveled to the capital in the year 1925 to advance her career outside America. Her first appearance in France was venturing in ‘La Revue Nègre’ where she became an instant success for her dancing style. The lady received [1][2]applauds from different quarters for her erotic dancing and appearing nude in the stage. This kind of dancing was a very unique and thus several people were very interested. The lady had high affiliation to the French capital such that after a tour to the whole of Europe, she decided to settle in Paris.

Her stay in Paris became a very flourishing affair as she starred in the Folies Bergère. This was very instrumental to the future artistic works she performed in France. One of the moist notable artistic performances was the banana dance also known as the ‘Danse sauvage’. This was a great performance where she performed wearing a costume made of artificial bananas. This made her performances very exciting and attracted large audiences thus becoming famous day in day out. Her artistic work became more popular and increased interest from the westerners to non-westerners such as Africans. The major reason for her flourishing was her unique fashion and tastes. For instance, she always performed while accompanied by her cheetah pet which made her entertainment even more exciting. Josephine Baker’s success in Paris was very immense such that she decided to change her citizenship and became a French nationalist. While in France, she also managed to feature in several films such as ZouZou, Siren of the Tropics and Princesse Tam Tam which were also flourishing well in the Paris capital.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American born poet, playwright, novelist and a columnist. He was born on 1^st Feb. 1902 in United States of America. He is greatly known for being the pioneer of the jazz poetry and his great artistic works in novel and poem writing. Like Josephine Baker, Hughes has also received accolades in his artistic work in Paris city. In his early life, Hughes struggled to make ends meet. He worked in several capacities with an aim of making enough money but all this was in vain. However, after Harlem renaissance, the poetic work of Hughes became rewarding and his success in the poetry industry was noted.

Langston Hughes was concerned with poetry with basic aim of sensitizing the black Americans to be proud of their race. This became very pleasant to many blacks thus making his artistic works more attractive. His work spread to other parts of Europe including France thus enabling him to make a lot of money in playwright and jazz poetry. In Paris, Hughes was also involved in other tasks such as watchman, cleaning and laundry all of which were instrumental to the later success of the poet.

Gertrude Stein

This is another renowned American writer and poet born on 3rd Feb. 1874 in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. She is known for her contribution to the modern writing which has brought a lot of success in her career. In her career and even after death, Gertrude stein has remained a prominent voice of American literature. After having painful early years as a result of death to her parents, Gertrude Stein never gave up in life and made massive efforts to ensure that her life becomes smooth and as stable as possible.

After completion of her post graduate education, Gertrude Stein moved to Paris in order to look for greener pastures. At first, she stayed with her brother Leo Stein. The two siblings had high affiliation to art and they groomed each other for what would be a very excellent art from Gertrude. After moving to Paris in 1903, she started writing libretti, plays, novels, poems and [3]stories. Gertrude Stein’s style is playfully repetitive and extremely idiosyncratic which made her artistic work very welcoming not only in Paris but also to her homeland in America. Her writing developed immensely while in Paris as it achieved a flow of information and consciousness. Her style of writing developed to the modern style which made her artistic work very attractive to readers.  The way she used language received applause from different quarters as she preferred to avoid words that had too many associations. Her writing used short words which made her work interesting to the readers as she expressed her willingness to express ambiguity in her writing career. This made her work thrilling and appealing to the readers.

While still in Paris, her writing works were also a source of encouragement to other artistes. For instance, Sherwood Anderson who is also another American writer had a lot of praise for the Gertrude steins work. She asserted that Gertrude had found a new way of using language which had positive influence to other writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Richard Wright. One of the most significant work associated with Gertrude Stein is ‘’Tender Buttons’’ which depicts high artistic styles which should be embraced by every person who dreams of success in the writing sector. Gertrude stein together with her brother Leo made major progress together in terms of finances as well as developing their artistic work. For instance, they were able to stay in a decent house and also have a good collection of their arts which included Ambroise Vollard‘s and Paul Cézanne arts. The two siblings got new acquisitions every day which made them a success story in the writing sector. As a result of this increased success, several artistes paid visits to them to benchmark and also check out whether their portraits could be available in the Steins’ salons.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway was another American writer born on 21^st July 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He died in July 2^nd 1961 at the age of 61 years. He is well known as the lost generation as a result of his great written works in his career. In his life as a writer, Ernest has a collection of several books which has made his presence be felt to date. He started as a news reporter but eventually ended as a renowned writer with several worldwide recognized books.

However, just like Hughes, Josephine and other American artistes, he has also flourished in his career in Paris. Before going to Paris, Ernest had worked in other European countries such as Italy and his native united states. He later went to Paris city in France and continued to strive to have a better life. He and his lovely wife lived in the poor parts of the city as they had no money to live in the high class estates. Initially, Ernest was employed by the Toronto Star as a reporter and the little money he earned could sustain them in their small room. This job was to his advantage as he got time to write his stories.

The Paris environment was very friendly to him thus gave him an opportunity to learn French, meet new friends as well as learning their customs. He was also accorded an opportunity to meet other artistes such as Gertrude stein, F.Scott and Ezra Pound who were very essential in sharing their artistic works. These writers became very helpful to Ernest as they helped him publish his stories in America. During his stay in Paris, Ernest was able to publish at least three stories and at least ten poems. The most notable written work during his reign in Paris involved the novel ‘’A Moveable Feast’’ which was a very defining moment in his career. His continued [4]stay in Paris encouraged him to write more and more publications which enabled to survive without working as a reporter any more. He was also able to enter the world of expatriate authors and artistes through the help of Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude Stein who all met in Paris.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Paris has been a very important city for the flourishing of American artistes. As evidenced by the tales of the four artistes above, it is crystal clear that their success in career has been as a result of their stay in this French capital. After Harlem renaissance, Paris has been a major archive for American artistic work and several American artistes have embraced the city as the archive for their work.

Bibliography

Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American artists. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007.[5]

[1]

[2] Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American artists. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007.

[3] Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American artists. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007.

[4] Hallmark, Kara Kelley. Encyclopedia of Asian American artists. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007.

[5]

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