{"id":279157,"date":"2025-11-08T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T11:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/279157\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T11:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T11:08:08","slug":"a-century-after-fleeing-the-u-s-for-france-josephine-baker-will-be-memorialized-in-bronze-by-a-loveland-sculptor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/279157\/","title":{"rendered":"A century after fleeing the U.S. for France, Josephine Baker will be memorialized in bronze by a Loveland sculptor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Where does an artist who sculpts history\u2019s most prominent women start?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe heart is where I begin,\u201d says Loveland sculptor Jane DeDecker. \u201cSometimes I&#8217;ll even layer that area so that you can kind of feel and maybe see where the heart lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a sun-soaked barn perfect for keeping clay warm and malleable, DeDecker is working on a figure who had a lot of heart in real life.<\/p>\n<p>Singer and dancer Josephine Baker was a Renaissance woman. A global superstar. A civil rights activist. A mother to a \u201crainbow tribe\u201d of 12 adopted children. A spy for the French resistance.<\/p>\n<p>But DeDecker makes her figures accessible.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI call it tangible greatness, where these great women are on the level where you can relate to them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>DeDecker has sculpted Harriet Tubman, Amelia Earhart, and Emily Dickinson, among others. Her likeness of Baker will sit on a bench near Baker\u2019s former home west of Paris \u2014 inviting the living to sit beside her.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Jane DeDecker sculpts Josephine Baker\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-822001\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251028-jospehine-baker-sculptor-jane-dedecker-rw-hwv-003-1024x683.jpg\"\/>Jane DeDecker sculpts Josephine Baker.<img alt=\"Jane DeDecker sculpts Josephine Baker\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"wp-image-822000\" style=\"color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/20251028-jospehine-baker-sculptor-jane-dedecker-rw-hwv-002-1024x683.jpg\"\/>Jane DeDecker sculpts Josephine Baker.<\/p>\n<p>A century ago, Baker fled the United States for France, where, as a vocal Black woman, she found greater freedom and fame. DeDecker\u2019s piece, titled Timeless Grace, marks the occasion in all the fluidity of clay, then bronze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted her to be active. Her whole life was accomplishments. So I wanted her just in a rocking movement. She&#8217;s alive. I think she&#8217;s almost barely tethered to this earth because she was fluid, and here and there,\u201d DeDecker mused.<\/p>\n<p>DeDecker, best known for the national women\u2019s suffrage monument, was enlisted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.josephinebakercommemoration.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josephine Baker Commemorative Site<\/a> for this project. The sculpture site is located in a parkway in Le V\u00e9sinet, France, paces away from Baker\u2019s beloved Villa Beau-Ch\u00eane.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt&#8217;s an honor for me to sculpt someone and I take it very seriously. Sometimes I ask permission. I&#8217;m like, \u2018if you&#8217;re out there, come here and visit, be with me. Let me bring you back for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Where does an artist who sculpts history\u2019s most prominent women start? \u201cThe heart is where I begin,\u201d says&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,147948,228,15105,9946,147949,3,147950,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-279157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-art-installation","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-culture","tag-black-americans","tag-loveland","tag-news","tag-race-ethnicity-and-culture","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}