Tamara
de Lempicka
(1898-1980)
She was born Tamara Gorska in Warsaw in 1898. She came from
a
wealthy family and married a well-off attorney, Tadeusz Lempicki, in
Petrograd in 1916.
In 1918 Tamara and Tadeusz emigrated to Paris and Tamara gave birth
to her only child, Kizette. It is here she received her first painting
lessons- from André Lhote and Maurice Denis. Shortly thereafter
her
first paintings were sold from the Gallerie Colette Weill.
In 1925 she made a name for herself exhibiting at the first Art Deco
exhibition in Paris. After having affairs with more than one wealthy
"patron of the arts" she divorced Tadeusz, and married Baron Raoul
Kuffner in 1933.
Raoul and Tamara moved to America in 1939 and exhibitions dedicated
exclusively to her work appeared at The Paul Reinhart Gallery, Julian
Levy's, Courvoisier Galleries, and the Milwaukee Institute of Art. Her
artistic output, however, was decreasing.
In 1960 she changed her style to abstract art and began creating works
with a spatula. When Raoul died of a heart attack in 1962 she all but
gave up on painting.
In 1980, while living in Mexico, Tamara died in her sleep. Her daughter
Kizette scattered her ashes over the crater of Mt. Popocatéptl. |
Her
paintings:
 Self-Portrait
in the Green Bugatti, 1925, oil on wood, private collection. 126KB |
 Portrait
of Marquis Sommi, 1925, oil on canvas, private collection. 79KB |
Portrait of
Prince Eristoff, 1925, oil on canvas, private collection. 106KB |
Kizette on the
Balcony, 1927, oil on canvas, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris.
115KB |
The Young Ladies, 1927, oil on wood, private collection. 105KB |
 Spring,
1928, oil on panel, private collection. 120KB |
 High
Summer, 1928, oil on wood, private collection. 81KB |
 The
Girls, 1928, oil on canvas, private collection. 71KB |
Portrait of Tadeusz de Lempicki (Portrait of the Artist's Husband), unfinished,
1928, oil on canvas, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris. 71KB |
St. Moritz, 1929, oil on wood, Musée d'Orléans. 124KB |
Girl with Gloves, 1929, oil on canvas, Musée National d'Art Moderne,
Paris. 123KB |
 Portrait
of Madame M., 1930, oil on canvas, private collection. 118KB |
 Sleeping
Woman, 1935, oil on canvas, private collection. 96KB |
Surrealist Landscape, oil on canvas, private collection. 124KB |
 Study
for the Blue Scarf Pencil 1930 |
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