Painted in Paris in the 1920s and 30s, Tamara de Lempicka’s glamorous portraits of the city’s socialites have become synonymous with art deco. Though these are considered the defining works of the artist’s career, Lempicka’s oeuvre demonstrates an impressive breadth, comprising sensual nudes, subdued floral still lifes and melancholic religious scenes. More than 150 of these works are brought together at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, which is putting on the first major retrospective of the Polish artist in the United States (12 October–9 February 2025). The exhibition is divided into four sections, each reflecting a different period of Lempicka’s colourful life: for instance, ‘Tamara Rosa Hurwitz’ (the artist’s birth name) explores her experimental early years in Paris, while ‘Baroness Kuffner’ (the title she took after her second marriage), covers the less eventful decades she spent in the United States and Mexico.
Find out more from the de Young Museum’s website.
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Young Girl in Green (Young Girl in Gloves) (c. 1931), Tamara de Lempicka. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo: © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, New York; © 2024 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC/ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York
Arums (1935), Tamara de Lempicka. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo: © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, New York; © 2024 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC/ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York
The Communicant (1929), Tamara de Lempicka. Centre Pompidou, Paris. Photo: © CNAC/MNAM, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, New York; © 2024 Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC/ADAGP, Paris/ARS, New York