The “Roaring Twenties” known in France as “Les Années Folles” was a golden period (1919-1929) with unprecedented economic prosperity, technological progress (automobiles, telephones, motion pictures, electricity) and creativity. Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, John Dos Passos, Ezra Pound had established themselves in Paris where they rubbed shoulders with Montparnasses’ high flyers. Picasso, Modigliani, Soutine, Brancusi and Chagall all frequented the same cafes.
Paris was on a roll as one of the major entertainment capitals of the world with its jazz music, charleston dances and performers such as the legendary Josephine Baker, Kiki and Mistinquett. Baker shot to fame in Paris in 1925 at the Theatre de Champs-Elysees in “La Revue Negre” including “La Danse Sauvage” in which she thrilled Parisians by performing topless to music by Sidney Bechet.
A new book of photos “Paris Années Folles” published by Parigramme captures the magic of these years with 100 black and white photographs. It includes some classic iconic photos —Lartigue, Kertész, Branger, Boyer, Savitry, Atget, Harlingue—and many pictures taken by anonymous photo journalists who were busy documenting what Hemingway called “a moveable feast.”
Paris Années Folles, 100 Photos de Legende. Bilingual. Parigramme, 9E90.