“Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Nicknamed the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and even the “Créole Goddess” in anglophone nations.

Baker was the first African American female to star in a major motion picture and to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer. She is also noted for her contributions to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States (she was offered the unofficial leadership of the movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, but turned it down), for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for being the first American-born woman to receive the French military honor, the Croix de guerre”.

Photo: American entertainer Josephine Baker in costume for her famous “banana dance”. Baker was an overnight sensation when she arrived in Paris in the mid-1920s. (Photo by Walery/Getty Images)

A model presents a creation made of plastic cutlery during Trash Fashion Show in Macedonia's capital Skopje, on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. Teams from 47 high schools from Macedonia participated in the show with creations made of redesigned materials from waste such as plastic bags, newspapers, cardboard, plastic bottles, cans, used paper, etc. (Photo by Boris Grdanoski/AP Photo)

Folk artist Han Xiaoming demonstrates painting with his tongue in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province December 4, 2014. Han dips his tongue in ink to paint on paper, and uses his fingers to fill in final adjustments. The artist also uses a paintbrush held with his mouth and utilizes fish and vegetables as paint tools, local media reported. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

Inga Paltser is a young painter from Severodvinsk known for her watercolor illustrations and paintings of owls. Inga prefers working with paper, but sometimes also creates on textile, wood, and canvas. She started painting in her childhood at the local school of arts. However, after high school Inga decided to become a biologist and now she works as a researcher. Even though art hasn’t become her profession, Inga finds time to create wonderful paintings presented on this website. Her first owls were painted spontaneously – Inga decided to utilize small pieces of watercolor and pastel paper and created two cute owls called “Friends”. Inga’s owls instantly received recognition across the web and social networks and now are greatly loved by thousands of people around the world.

Women in kimonos look at pictures they took in front of paper lanterns during the annual Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo July 13, 2014. Over 30,000 lanterns light up the precincts of the shrine, where more than 2.4 million war dead are enshrined, during the four-day festival. The festival goes on till July 16. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Artist Terry Border gives new life to old books in his latest series titled Wiry Limbs, Paper Backs. The artist, who is no stranger to breathing new life into inanimate objects, utilizes his handcrafted technique of bending wires to serve as limbs and combines it with a great sense of humor. Each whimsical creation in the ongoing project is a sculptural work that stands on its own, reflecting its respective text.