Tamara deLempicka

Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980) was a Polish-born painter active in Paris, New York and Hollywood in the 1920s and 30s. Her works - largely portraits, erotic nudes, and still lifes - have a distinctive Art Deco style, capturing the glamour and vitality of postwar Paris and the cosmopolitan gloss of Hollywood of that period.

Born Tamara Gorska in Warsaw to a wealthy family, the artist fled to Paris during the 1917 Russian Revolution. During the 1920s in Paris Lempicka became an integral part of the bohemian scene and was acquainted with Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Andre Gide. While the Cubist influence of Fernand Léger can be seen in Lempicka’s work her streamlined forms and emphasis of elegance set her work apart and enhance her particular vision of the decadent celebrities and socialites who she painted.

Lempicka received considerable acclaim for her work, and became a social celebrity herself, famed for her aloof character, her lavish lifestyle and her love affairs with both women and men. In 1939 the artist moved to the U.S. with her second husband, Baron Raoul Huffner, recreating her artistic and social success in Hollywood and New York.

Tamara de Lempicka’s work is held in many international public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes in France, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.