Josephine Baker's bananas
Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was one of the 20th century’s most famous entertainers. She was known as a civil rights activist, and adopted twelve children from eleven countries. As a performer she made her name at the Folies Bergère, in an act where she wore only a skirt made of artificial bananas. This dress is a tribute to her breakthrough, her origins and her future. You can see the fruit together with banana trees and her notorious skirt, since she also had a sense of humour.
Haughty banana tree
Spotted in a campaign from Saint Laurent: a sculpture of a banana tree looking very fashionable with a haughty model. The sculpture dates from the middle of the last century and is a sort of copper construction kit. It was incredibly popular amongst the jet set in the 1960s, particularly in America.
Renoir’s banana trees
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) painted ‘Field with Banana Trees’ (1881) in Algeria when he was already an established artist and could afford an exotic trip. The banana trees were in the Essai garden in Hamma. Renoir painted the trees from a balcony or roof. The multiplicity of shapes and brush marks mean that the trees almost seem to move in the painting. You can spend hours looking at it without getting bored.
Banana by Prada
Luxury label Prada devoted an entire collection to banana motifs and leaves in 2011.
Designer banana tree
Yukata Sone's sculpture Banana Tree is made of rattan, fibreglass and stainless steel, and is installed outside Pasadena City College. Variations on the theme can be found around the world, including at the David Zwirner Gallery in London. “I think it’s a beautiful stylised shape, and it’s a tree that produces tasty fruit,” says Sone. “There’s nothing about the banana tree that I don’t like.”
