Tamara de Lempicka
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Suddenly," Tamara would say, "I became aware of a woman walking some distance in front of me. As she walks, everyone coming in the opposite direction stops and looks at her. They turn their heads as they passes by. I am curious. What is so extraordinary that they are doing this? I walk very quickly until I pass her, then I turn around and come back down the path in the opposite direction. Then I see why everyone stops. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen - huge black eyes, beautiful sensuous mouth, beautiful body. I stop her and say to her, "Madmoiselle I'm a painter and I would like you to come pose for me. Would you do this? She says, "Yes, why not?" And I say , "Yes, come. My car is here."" --Passion By Design (1987) by Kizette de Lempicka |
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Tamara de Lempicka (16 May 1898 – 18 March 1980) was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, as well as for highly stylized paintings of nudes such as Beautiful Rafaela (1927).
She was one of the best-known painters of the Art Deco style, a group which included Jean Dupas, Diego Rivera, Josep Maria Sert, Reginald Marsh, and Rockwell Kent, but unlike these artists, who often painted large murals with crowds of subjects, she focused almost exclusively on portraits.
Legacy
American singer Madonna is an admirer and collector of Lempicka's work. Madonna has featured Lempicka's work in her music videos for "Open Your Heart" (1987), "Express Yourself" (1989), "Vogue" (1990) and "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" (1998).
Lempicka's paintings are featured on the UK book covers of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.
List of paintings
- Beautiful Rafaela (1927)
- Kizette in Pink