Tamara de Lempicka canvas prints & artprints

Tamara de Lempicka, born Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska in 1898, marked an entire page in modern art with her unique and instantly recognisable style. An emblematic figure of Art Deco, she established herself as a renowned portrait painter, immortalising the elegance and sophistication of the Roaring Twenties. Her paintings, with their glamorous, neo-classical aesthetic tinged with neo-cubism, feature worldly figures in languid poses and luxurious settings.

From La Belle Rafaëla to Self-Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti), her works are now exhibited in the world's greatest museums, notably in France, the country that saw the pinnacle of her career, at the Musée des beaux-arts d'Orléans, the Musée d'arts de Nantes, but above all at the Centre Pompidou, whose Musée national d'art moderne de Paris collection holds several of her paintings, bequeathed by the artist herself. Today, the craze for Tamara de Lempicka continues unabated, still fascinating as much for her influence on modern art as for her tumultuous and passionate life.

Biography of Tamara de Lempicka

Youth of Tamara de Lempicka

Born Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska in 1898 in Warsaw, Poland, the future Polish painter grew up in a privileged environment. The daughter of a wealthy lawyer and a mother from high society, she enjoyed a golden childhood, receiving a cosmopolitan education, and travelling across Europe, between Poland, Switzerland and Russia.

Her taste for art manifested itself early on, but before she became a renowned artist, she enrolled at the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1914 to perfect her drawing and painting, and then produced her first paintings there.

Two years later, she married Tadeusz Lempicki, a Polish lawyer, and while the First World War was raging, the Russian Revolution forced the couple to flee Russia and seek refuge in Paris, France. This exile marked a turning point in Tamara's life and had a profound influence on her future work.

Parisian training and rise for Tamara de Lempicka

Arriving in Paris with her husband and daughter, Tamara de Lempicka is forced to go against the idle, bourgeois life she seemed destined for in Russia. Her husband Tadeusz refused to work, so the young woman took her destiny into her own hands and threw herself fully into drawing and painting in order to support her family.

So she studied with Maurice Denis at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, then with André Lhote, immersing herself in the artistic currents of the time. She quickly forged her own style, a unique blend of influences drawn from Renaissance Mannerist art and Neo-Cubism, which laid the foundations for Art Deco. Her paintings feature elegant, sensual figures in geometric compositions and bright colours, reflecting the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties.

In 1922, she exhibited a painting for the first time at the Salon d'Automne. The critics supported her, unaware that the artist who had exhibited the painting was a woman, and this initial success encouraged her to persevere. Her work attracted the attention of critics and collectors. She then held a number of exhibitions and organised her first solo show in Milan in 1925, under her own name, marking the start of her meteoric rise as a widely recognised artist.

Glory and recognition for Tamara de Lempicka

At the heart of the Roaring Twenties, Tamara de Lempicka enjoyed a period of unparalleled fame and recognition. The artist produced portraits that captured the essence of the era, such as the famous Portrait of Marquis Sommi, her lover whom she met in Italy at her Milan exhibition in 1925. The Polish painter's Paris studio then became a veritable artistic crossroads, and her works were gradually exhibited in the most fashionable venues in the French capital, such as the Colette-Weil gallery or as part of the Société des femmes artistes modernes.

Tamara de Lempicka attracted a wealthy clientele and became the fashionable portraitist of high society and the world of the arts. She immortalised the elegance and modernity of personalities such as singer Suzy Solidor, whose portrait reflected the spirit of feminine independence. Her unmistakable Art Deco style is characterised by clean lines, vivid colours and an unabashed sensuality. Jeune fille aux gants (also known as Jeune fille en vert) perfectly illustrates this icy, sophisticated aesthetic. In 1928, her aura spread across the Atlantic, and the Polish artist made her first trip to the United States, invited by industrialist and collector Rufus Bush, confirming her burgeoning international reputation.

Besides her success, Tamara de Lempicka's personal life was tumultuous. Her divorce in 1928 and her open bisexuality fuelled conversation in the Parisian salons. Her studio became a refuge, but also the scene of decadent parties. Tamara de Lempicka's paintings embodied the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. At the height of her career, her studio was witness to her talent and her excesses, making her a figure as fascinating as she was controversial.

Tamara de Lempicka's exile in the United States, and last years in Mexico

Fleeing war-torn Europe, Tamara de Lempicka moved to New York in 1939 with her second husband, Baron Kuffner, whom she had married shortly before. She tried to break into the American art scene by organising three exhibitions in New York and San Francisco, notably at Paul Rheinardt and Julien Levy. Despite these efforts, her Art Deco style, so popular in the 1920s, now seemed out of fashion. The artist still painted, but his works struggled to find their audience.

After the death of Baron Kuffner in 1961, Tamara de Lempicka moved to Houston to be with her daughter. Her life took a more discreet turn, and her work fell into oblivion. It was only with the revival of interest in Art Deco in the 1970s that her name resurfaced. A retrospective exhibition at the Galerie du Luxembourg in 1972 brought him back to success for a time.

In search of new horizons, she left the United States in 1978 to settle in Cuernavaca, Mexico. It was here that she would spend the last two years of her life, before passing away in 1980, leaving behind a singular body of work that continues to fascinate today.

Posthumous rebirth and legacy of Tamara de Lempicka

After a period of relative obscurity following her death in 1980, Tamara Górska "de Lempicka" experienced a veritable renaissance. Her paintings, long forgotten, resurfaced and attracted the attention of collectors and museums. Her unique style, a blend of Art Deco, neo-Cubism and influences from the Italian Renaissance, was once again seductive. The Roaring Twenties came back into fashion, and with it the craze for this artist who captured the elegance and modernity of that era.

Exhibitions highlighting her work are organised all over the world, such as at the Centre Pompidou, to which she bequeathed several paintings. Other prestigious museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Soumaya Museum in Mexico City, present her work to the public

The presence of her works in the collections of the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Saint-Denis and the Musée d'Arts in Nantes, demonstrates the Polish artist's attachment to France. The Centre Pompidou thus owns one of the most important collections of her paintings.

This museum recognition was accompanied by a critical reappraisal of her work. Tamara de Lempicka has finally found her place in art history, no longer just as a socialite portraitist, but as a major artist of the twentieth century. Her influence on contemporary art and fashion is undeniable. Today, the glamorous, sophisticated aesthetic of her portraits can be found in photography, advertising and design, proof of her impact on the art world.