Born Maria Gurwitch-Gursky, the daughter of a Polish woman and a Russian Jew became famous as the American artist Tamara (de) Lempicka. She became a symbol of the glamorous Art Deco offshoot. Together with Tadeusz Lempicka, who would later become her husband, the artist left Russia during the Revolution. She started painting to earn a living, but her charisma and entrepreneurial spirit made her a true star.
Self-portrait in a green Bugatti
Ardent, passionate, fascinating nature made Tamara spin novels, because of which the first marriage was doomed to perdition. Already being a socialite and a famous artist, she married a second time. Spouse was Baron Raoul Kuffner, with whom the talented lady will seek salvation from the nightmare of World War II in the United States. For a long time the artist's work was not understood over the ocean, but by the sixties it was again at the peak of popularity. She spent her last years in Mexico, but even there she could not give up the bohemian environment.
What is the uniqueness of the artist's style? She created her own authorial style, which was characterized by a clear geometry of draperies, light cubism, a touch of antiquity, seasoned with pure colors and the gloss of lacquer. The balance between eroticism and sensuality, a reaction to the wishes of the Parisian bourgeois public gave her work a special character.
Dream (Rafaela on a green background)
Tamara's father was a respected Russian Jew who worked as a lawyer for a trading company in France. The mother was a Polish socialite. The girl studied at a boarding school in Switzerland. Wintering with her grandmother in Italy, the future artist first saw the artwork of Renaissance painters.
When the parents divorced (although according to one version of the father took his own life), a streak of carefree existence was interrupted. Her mother decided to marry a second time, and the future artist was sent to her aunt, who lived in St. Petersburg.
Balls, masquerades, socialites of the pre-revolutionary capital conquered Tamara's heart. She met her first lover, who was amazingly handsome and at the same time a promising lawyer.
Tadeusz Lempicki. (Portrait of a Man, unfinished)
For the young family, the revolution was no joy at all. Tadeusz was arrested by the NKVD. The wife had to make a lot of efforts to rescue her husband. At the first opportunity the couple left Russia. The family decided to settle in the capital of France. There was only enough money for inexpensive apartments, which they rented at the expense of the sale of jewelry. Tadeusz could not find his place in the new conditions. Despite the fact that his daughter was only a year old, Tamara became the breadwinner and head of the family.
Many immigrants and aristocrats tried their hand at painting during these years. Lempicka decided to do the same. She realized that she had to stand out from the competition. She always did. Confident in her strength, spectacular beauty was characterized by boldness, did not see the barriers and boundaries. It is this image and her made her recognizable, even a little more than creativity.
The girl with the gloves
Her teachers were Maurice Denis, Adré Lota, thanks to whom a unique style of the artist appeared. With a touch of avant-garde, glamor. Lempicka considered herself as much an asset of Paris as the Eiffel Tower. Very soon the Parisian bomond considered the artwork of a promising cubist as a symbol of success. Self-confidence allowed Tamara to take fifty thousand francs per painting, and even make a list of those wishing to buy the canvas for several months in advance.
Portrait of Nana de Herrera
If success awaits one party, the other often suffers. This was the case with the artist, whose marriage was falling apart. Tamara enjoyed her popularity, had one affair after another, and her husband could not put up with it. He went to the capital of Poland and filed for divorce. The artist was worried, but not for long. Very soon there was a more promising lover.
Hungarian Baron Raoul Kyuffner came to the studio of the artist not alone. With him was his beloved Nana Herrera (dancer from Andalusia). He wanted to order a portrait of his beloved. Tamara was immediately attracted to the Baron, and therefore she let in a course of female cunning. The model could be completely naked for hours waiting for the artist, who was relaxing in the bathtub or doing her own thing. The artwork turned out to be caricatured and showed all the shortcomings of the dancer. Baron quickly lost interest in his former lover.
Portrait of Marjorie Ferry
Like a true coquette, Tamara had long been indifferent to the Baron and his attempts at courtship. She said she was too busy to have a relationship. After began to realize how successful the baron is a successful party and in the early thirties became his wife. The artist called her first husband very handsome, and the second - the owner of a strong character.
Europe lived in anxious anticipation of the inevitability of war. Tamara had already had bitter experience and managed to persuade her husband to sell the family estates, transfer the money to Switzerland and go to the New World.
Sleeping Girl (Kizetta).
In the United States, she had to start from scratch. Commercial spirit helped Tamara to make acquaintances among Hollywood stars, who began to order portraits from the artist. Alas, to adjust to the new trends of fashion artist was not immediately, the taste in American bohemia was somewhat different from European. She was still called to social gatherings, but now as an eccentric artist who draws funny pictures.
Tamara tried to change her style, painting in a surrealistic manner, but these artworks were not very successful.
Surreal hands
In New York, her artwork was met with frightening indifference. At the height of her popularity were artworks in the style of abstractionism, pop art, alien to Lempicki, but she did not give up.
In the early sixties, her husband died. Tamara decided to remember about her own daughter, who had been raised by her mother for many years. For years she gave the girl away as her sister. For the sake of another love, the artist decided to move to Mexico.
Woman with a mandolin
By the age of seventy-six, this amazing woman still managed to attract male attention. Victor Contreras so loved the artist, who was twice his age, that he tolerated all her antics and whims. Tamara was not ready to accept old age. She forced the chosen one to remove all the mirrors from the house, so that the reflection in them did not piss her off.
The artist spent her last years with her daughter, bringing her already with her whims and demands. Even her last will was unconventional. The artist demanded that her ashes be scattered over the Mexican volcano Popocatepetl.
Spring
A new wave of popularity of Tamara's work came in the sixties. First followed a successful Paris exhibition, then a Luxembourg exhibition. Clients began to eagerly order replicas of the paintings, but the eye and hand were no longer so accurate.
Lempicka is still considered one of the most successful artists of the last century. Her artwork has taken places in the best museums and private collections, and has already been sold for more than a hundred million dollars. Fans of the artist's work include Madonna, Jack Nicholson, and Barbra Streisand.
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