Artist in Focus - Tamara de Lempicka

Despite frequently facing hardships, financial, romantic, political, and otherwise, Tamara de Lempicka is best known for her luxurious, fashionable and hedonistic lifestyle inspiring iconic Art Deco portraits and nudes which are beloved by the elite and celebrities even today. Born in Warsaw, de Lempicka’s travels around Italy as a teen first sparked her interest in art. She moved to St Petersburg and married her first husband, Tadeusz Lempicki a prominent Polish lawyer. As the Russian Revolution began in November 1917 and Tadeusz’ arrest in December, for which de Lempicka offered favours to the Swedish counsel in order to secure his release, they moved to Paris and lived from the sale of family jewels. Money waned even more with the birth of their daughter Kizette in 1919 and so Tamara de Lempicka began to paint.

Her art quickly began to exhibit at prestigious events and was spotted by journalists from Harper’s Bazaar and other fashion magazines and so her name began to be known within the context of high fashion and luxury. Even though she once again lost all her money, after the banks went under in the Wall Street Crash, de Lempicka had solidified her position as an Art Deco portrait painter for the wealthy, specifically her wealthy friends. Although her fame also decreased as the Art Deco style began to lose popularity her popularity rose again in the 60s and is once again beginning to rise.

To mark her phenomenal life and art and rising popularity, she is being celebrated twice in 2024. A musical about the revolutionary artist, beginning at her flight from the Russian Revolution and depicting the start of her artistic career and intense love affairs with both men and woman, is moving to Broadway in March, with previews starting on March 19th and opening night scheduled for April 14th. Where the musical celebrates her life and start in art, there is the first Major US Retrospective of her work takes place in October 2024 until February 2025 in the San Francisco de Young Museum; this exhibition hopes to find a ‘more three-dimensional understanding of Lempicka’, beyond her ties with Art Deco, glamour and fashion and instead focusing on her skill as a talented artist. These two incredibly important events both focusing on de Lempicka should provide a well-rounded and interesting story of a talented artist who was very ahead of her time.

This series of limited editions, are printed on Hahnemuhle paper using our exclusive Gouttelette® process; These are of exceptional quality with remarkable colour saturation and continuous tonal characteristics. Each edition of 100 are hand numbered and accompanied by a certificate signed by Tamara de Lempicka's granddaughter and bearing the
Lempicka Estate stamp.