A.049

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Etude pour "les confidences")

on the back, a study for "Au salon de thé"- See B.94

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.050

circa1925

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Au café, autour de la table)

Collections

1980 - Private collection - France

A.051

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Au salon de thé)

on the back, study for"les confidences"

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.052

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Salon de thé)

Auctions

13/05/1987 - NEW YORK. Phillips "662", # 44 $ 1 800

A.053

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Salon de thé)

Auctions

13/05/1987 - NEW YORK. Phillips "662", # 43 $ 1 500

A.054

circa1925

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Etude pour "Deux nus en perspective")

See B.59

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.055

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Etude d'après...)

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

A.056

circa1925

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Etude d'après...)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.057

circa1925

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Etude d'après...)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.058

circa1925

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Etude d'après...)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.059

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Jeunes filles au bain)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 154 $ 2 350

A.060

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Jeunes filles au bain)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 146 $ 2 170

A.061

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom left) ECHO. (bottom right)

(Echo)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 174 $ 2 170

A.062

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(La chaîne)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 164 $ 1 670

A.063

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Amants et colonnes)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

A.064

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Naïades)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Collections

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 141 $ 2 170

A.065

circa1925

Crayon on paper

(Chevaux cabrés)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

A.066

circa1925

T.DE LEMPICKA (Artist's stamp bottom right)

(Cavalcade)

Belongs to a set of eight preliminary sketches for an interior design project drawn up for the architect Jean Walter.

A.067

circa1925

Crayon on paper

Lempicka (bottom right)

(Etude de cheval)

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

A.068

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Nu assis)

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 145 $ 2 250

A.069

circa1925

Crayon and charcoal heightennings on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Croquis. Nu allongé I)

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 170 $ 3 330

A.070

circa1925

Crayon and charcoal heightennings on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Croquis. Nu allongé II)

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 150 $ 3 170

A.071

circa1925

Charcoal on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Croquis. Nu allongé III)

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 172 $ 6 500

A.072

circa1925

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Croquis. Nu assis I)

Collections

1994 - Private collection - France

A.073

circa1925

Red chalk on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Croquis. Nu assis II)

Auctions

19/11/1992 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “6365-Fried”, # 172 $ 0

A.074

circa1925

Crayon and charcoal heightennings on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Croquis. Nu déhanché I)

Auctions

21/06/1988 - PARIS. Briest, # 177 $ 4 000

A.075

circa1925

Crayon and charcoal heightennings on paper

(Croquis. Nu déhanché II)

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

A.076

circa1926

Crayon on paper

Lempicka Paris 1924. (bottom right)

(Etude pour "Nu couché au livre")

See B.88.

Auctions

22/11/1989 - PARIS. Ader, # 99 $ 1 700

A.077

circa1926

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Etude pour la "belle Rafaela")

See B.87.

Collections

1980 - Fundacion Victor Manuel Contreras - Mexico

History

La belle RAFAELA, Social connexion: In the biography she devoted to her mother, Lizette de Lempicka-Foxhall informs us that "la belle" Rafaëla apparently approached Lempicka during one of the latter's daily morning walks in the Bois de Boulogne. The young woman, presented to us as a nymphomaniac, but not necessarily venal, is said to have struck Lempicka by her beauty ""...Never had I seen a more beautiful woman - enormous black eyes, a splendid body. I stopped her and asked: 'Miss, I am a painter and I would like you to come sit for me. Would you accept?' She answered: 'Yes, why not?' So I said to her: 'Well, then, come along. My car is here.' " Lempicka seems to have been fully satisfied with her model, since she had her continue the sittings for over a year: for " The Pink Tunic" (B.84) in particular, but apparently she can also be recognized in "The Dream" (B.85), which is captioned "Rafaëla against a Green Background" in an article by Arsène Alexandre ("Tamara de Lempicka", La Renaissance de l'art français et des industries de luxe, July, 1929)

A.078

circa1926

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Sur la plage)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.079

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.de Lempicka (bottom right)

(Nu debout, un bras sur la tête)

A.080

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T. de Lempicka (bottom left)

(Nu de dos)

Collections

1990 - Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Richard Hirsc - U.S.A.

A.081

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.de Lempicka (bottom right)

(Nu assis, de dos)

Collections

1992 - Private collection - France

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

A.082

circa1926

Crayon on paper

de Lempicka (bottom right)

(Nu assis)

Auctions

13/02/1986 - NEW YORK. Christie's “Christine-6084”, # 109 $ 3 200

A.083

circa1926

Crayon on paper

de Lempicka (bottom right)

(Nu assis)

A.084

circa1926

Crayon on paper

de Lempicka (bottom left)

(Nu allongé)

Auctions

05/05/1986 - PARIS. Renaud, # ? $ 1 140

A.085

circa1926

Crayon on paper

(Nu assis sur un tabouret)

A.086

circa1926

Crayon on paper

(Nu)

A.087

circa1926

Crayon on paper

(Nu debout accoudé)

A.088

circa1926

Crayon on paper

(Nu assis, de face)

A.089

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom center)

(Femme assise au col roulé)

Collections

1989 - Collection of Anna Gardner Luce - U.S.A.

A.090

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Jeune femme regardant un album)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

A.091

circa1926

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Etude pour un portrait)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.092

circa1926

Crayon on paper

(Garçonne, les jambes croisées)

A.093

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Portrait d'une jeune femme au chapeau cloche)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

A.094

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Jeune femme debout)

Collections

1970 - Private collection - France

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

A.095

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T. de Lempicka. (bottom left)

(Femme assise)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.096

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.DE LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

("Venez absolument à la Coupole")

This imperious message is pencilled on the back of the drawing.

Collections

Private collection - France

A.097

circa1926

Crayon on paper

LEMPICKA (artist's stamp bottom right)

(Ville italienne)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.098

circa1926

Crayon on paper

T.de Lempicka (top right)

(Village italien)

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

A.099

circa1926

Crayon on paper

sight (Le pont de Chemin de fer)

B.052

circa1925

Oil on canvas

(Amore e Musica * )

An unidentified work, described in the catalog as a "monochrome".

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy

B.053

circa1925

Oil on canvas

(Bridge à 16 heures *)

An unidentified work.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy

B.054

circa1925

Oil on canvas

(La buona Notizia *)

An unidentified work.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy

B.055

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPITZKA (bottom right)

(Portrait du Marquis Sommi *)

During her first long stay in Milan in 1925, Lempicka greatly enjoyed the company of this attractive avant-garde musician, whose wife - Princess Pignatelli (Mananà) - was a sculptress. The couple introduced Lempicka to the Futurist circle, and the latter's influence may have made itself felt in this work.

Collections

1968 - Private collection - Switzerland
1979 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1980 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy

History

1925, Chronology: De Lempicka won public acclaim for her one-woman show at the Bottega di Poesia in Milan, organised by Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco. During a prolonged stay in the city she made the acqaintance of a number of italian aristocrats with influence in the art world.
Marquis SOMMI, Portrait retained by Lempicka: According to Gioia Mori, " the Marquis Guido di Girolamo Sommi Picenardi was introduced to Tamara by the Count Emanuele de Castelbarco. At one point, he became her lover. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor with the Knights of Malta, and had married Dame Anna Maria Pignatelli in Rome on 10 March 1917 (op.cit., p.58). The rest of the biographical note seems mistaken, presenting the marquis as "a fascist from the start" - which is to mistake him with his cousin (Gianfrancesco). On the contrary, according to Gianbattista Brambilla, the marquis suffered under the government and was even tortured by the Germans in 1945. Born in Menton in 1894, he died at his castle of Torre de Picenardi in Cremone in 1949. Guido Sommi Picenardi was a vanguard musician, who wrote numerous ballets and pantomimes presented in Rome, Venice, Milan, Brussels, and Paris. His wife, Mananà (Maria Anna Pignatelli Aragona Cortès) was a sculptor. Lempicka described the couple in the following terms: "Mananà and Guido Sommi Picenardi, whose bohemian ways would now be labelled as somewhat "hippy", spearheaded a young and brilliant circle of friends kept busy every night by parties, operas, ballets, music and dinners in private palaces with uniformed staffs. On these occasions, the women were beautifully dressed and covered with jewelry; the men were all very handsome and elegant. The concirca ations were most cultivated and witty." The two portraits of Guido Sommi had remained in the artist's studio.

Auctions

13/10/1977 - PARIS. Ader, Picard, Tajan. Drouot RG, # 201 $ 5 957
06/12/1975 - PARIS. Loudmer, Poulain (Palais Galliera), # 93 $ 3 068

B.056

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPITZKA (bottom left)

(Portrait de Guido Sommi)

Wearing a coat with a handsome fur collar (the same as in Gabriele d'Annunzio's wardrobe), the marquis/musician seems most imposing. A gap in the heavy drapes discloses his fief: the city of Milan at night. His left hand boasts an emerald. The theme of this work prefigures the portrait of Tadeusz that Lempicka would do three years later.

Collections

1969 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1970 - Private collection - France

History

1925, Chronology: De Lempicka won public acclaim for her one-woman show at the Bottega di Poesia in Milan, organised by Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco. During a prolonged stay in the city she made the acqaintance of a number of italian aristocrats with influence in the art world.
Marquis SOMMI, Portrait retained by Lempicka: According to Gioia Mori, " the Marquis Guido di Girolamo Sommi Picenardi was introduced to Tamara by the Count Emanuele de Castelbarco. At one point, he became her lover. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor with the Knights of Malta, and had married Dame Anna Maria Pignatelli in Rome on 10 March 1917 (op.cit., p.58). The rest of the biographical note seems mistaken, presenting the marquis as "a fascist from the start" - which is to mistake him with his cousin (Gianfrancesco). On the contrary, according to Gianbattista Brambilla, the marquis suffered under the government and was even tortured by the Germans in 1945. Born in Menton in 1894, he died at his castle of Torre de Picenardi in Cremone in 1949. Guido Sommi Picenardi was a vanguard musician, who wrote numerous ballets and pantomimes presented in Rome, Venice, Milan, Brussels, and Paris. His wife, Mananà (Maria Anna Pignatelli Aragona Cortès) was a sculptor. Lempicka described the couple in the following terms: "Mananà and Guido Sommi Picenardi, whose bohemian ways would now be labelled as somewhat "hippy", spearheaded a young and brilliant circle of friends kept busy every night by parties, operas, ballets, music and dinners in private palaces with uniformed staffs. On these occasions, the women were beautifully dressed and covered with jewelry; the men were all very handsome and elegant. The concirca ations were most cultivated and witty." The two portraits of Guido Sommi had remained in the artist's studio.

B.057

1925

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPITZKA (bottom right)

(Irène et sa sœur *)

The Declair sisters were Lempicka's cousins. Irene rolls back her eyes in a manner reminiscent of certain Baroque depictions of saints.

Collections

1983 - Private collection - Switzerland
1985 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1994 - Irena Hochman Fine Art Ltd - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1926 - Salon d'Automne 1926, Paris, France
1977 - Nationalgalerie, "Tendenzen der Zwanziger Jahre", Berlin, Germany
1978 - Hayward Gallery, "Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the 20s", London, Great Britain
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

History

Irene and Ludmilla DECLAIR, Family or close friend: The two sisters, Irène and Ludmilla, were Lempicka's cousins. Irène (Stifter), who died in 1993, had become an architect working in collaboration with Djo-Bourjois. She was also very close to Lempicka's sister, Adrienne, likewise an architect. After attending the Academy of Dresden, Ludmilla (Zolotowski, then Ferri) became a painter under the name Declair.

B.058

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA.

(Nu sur une terrasse)

Was Lempicka already dreaming of Mexico in 1925? There is a tropical note to this piece which, through the artist's massive stylization of the figure, comes close to the work produced by Mexican muralists.

Collections

1990 - Private collection - Germany
1991 - Private collection - Germany

Auctions

27/05/1991 - MÜNCHEN. Ketterer, # 75 $ 0

B.059

circa1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (top right)

(Deux nus en perspective)

By concealing the hands and feet, the artist underscores the massive quality of these bodies, which seem monumental in their simplicity and forcefulness. This effect is further enhanced by the work's mirror-effect and the angle of vision from below.

Collections

1989 - Private collection - France
1990 - Collection of G. Lahaussois - France

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

B.060

circa1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (bottom right)

(Nu assis)

The pose taken here bespeaks the hard sitting sessions on behalf of art students: this model's somewhat weary attitude brings to mind "Nude, Blue Background" (B.16) of 1923.

Collections

1991 - Private collection - Switzerland

Exhibitions

1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

Auctions

22/06/1988 - PARIS. Ader, Picard, Tajan. Hôtel G. V, # 99 $ 83 300
26/07/1991 - DIVONNE-LES-BAINS. Kohn. Casino , # 152 $ 107 500

B.061

circa1925

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPICKA. (top left)

(Femme assise)

In strange anthopomorphic mimesis of an approach familiar to us through Botero's work, the feet of the chair have been swollen in the same stylized fashion as the model's legs.

Collections

1997 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France

Auctions

13/06/1980 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “4395”, # 469 $ 7 500
06/06/1992 - LYON. J-C Anaf, # 233 $ 0

B.062

1925

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPICKA. (top left)

(Nu assis)

The subject here is a studio nude seen at a sharp angle from below. The background, handled cubistically, brings to mind the screens that were used to protect the models, more or less successfully, from drafts. The body's deformations and enormous legs, most especially, heighten the effect of perspective, in the manner of a wide-angle lens. In the art academies such as "la grande Chaumière", which Lempicka attended, the lack of space often forced first-row students to view the model from an unusual angle. Delving into her recollections of these sessions, Lempicka achieved the characteristic stylization we see here.

Collections

1980 - Private collection - U.S.A.
1983 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1985 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Salon d'Automne 1925, Paris, France
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1984 - Hollywood American Legion Post, "Tamara", Los Angeles, United States

Auctions

01/10/1983 - NEW YORK. Christie's “Breuer-5404", # 156 $ 0

B.063

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPITZKI. (bottom left)

(Le modèle *)

The body's sinousity is intensified by a background that, escaping all realism, takes on major importance.

Collections

1968 - Private collection - Switzerland
1980 - Private collection - U.S.A.
1996 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1996 - Barry Friedman Ltd. "Tamara de Lempicka", New-York, United States

B.064

circa1925

Oil on canvas

(Groupe de quatre nus)

Germain Bazin commented on this painting: "I know of no other work so akin to 'Turkish Bath' by Ingres than this group of nudes, where every inch of canvas is devoted to flesh. One even recognizes the 'gorge de pigeon' (pigeon neck) shimmer of the 'Turkish Bath', which seems, here, to emit an undefinable, romantic cooing. Lempicka's lines are Ingres-like in their sensualism, as are her contours and colors."

Collections

1970 - Private collection - Great Britain
1993 - Pruskin Gallery - Great Britain
1994 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan

Auctions

08/05/1991 - NEW YORK. Christie's “Elliot”, # 21 $ 0

B.065

circa1925

Oil on wood panel

DE LEMPICKA. (top left)

(Deux femmes aux chapeaux cloche)

A double portrait, in which the profile of the figure to the left matches the "Portrait of Romana de la Salle"(B.99). The city portrayed in the background, gives the psychological measure of the liberated woman couple.

Collections

1995 - Private collection - Japan

Auctions

10/05/1995 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's "6699 Ambrose", # 288 A $ 76 750

B.066

1925

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPICKA. (bottom left)

(Les deux fillettes aux rubans)

In this work, the artist has very accurately captured the impatience of a little girl nailed to a big armchair (the same as the one used in "Portrait of a Man in a Club Chair", B. 27)

Collections

1925 - Purchased directly by Mr. Sierpski - France
1992 - Collection of George and Vivian Dean - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

Auctions

11/11/1992 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “Picador”, # 225 $ 135 000
28/02/1982 - circa AILLES. G. Blache. Hôtel Rameau, # ? $ 28 600

B.067

1925

Oil on canvas

T. DE LEMPITZKA. (bottom left)

(Portrait de la Baronne Renata Treves *)

Baron Treves, the husband of this patron of the arts, was Gabriele D'Annunzio's official publisher. Of a different size than the standard French formats, this portrait must have been created in Italy.

Collections

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1978 - Private collection - U.S.A.
1989 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1926 - Salon des Indépendants 1926, Paris, France
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1975 - Scottish Art Council, "Fashion 1900-1939", Edimburgh-London, Great Britain
1992 - The National Museum of Women in the Art, "Polish Women Artists and Avant-Garde/Voices of Freedom", Washington, United States
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1996 - Barry Friedman Ltd. "Tamara de Lempicka", New-York, United States
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

History

Baroness TREVES, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Renata Treves de Bonfili Fontana (1892-1965) was a key figure in the between-the-wars Milanese society circles. She held a "salon" welcoming visiting intellectuals and artists. In 1972, her portrait still had not left the studio, an ocirca ight perhaps connected to the fiasco that had cut short a would-be affair between Lempicka and Baron Giuseppe Treves's good friend Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Auctions

10/05/1989 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “5850-Ripipoint”, # 380 $ 150 000
12/11/1987 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “5633-Tzanck”, # 380 $ 0

B.068

circa1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (top left)

(Tête de femme slave)

Here again, Lempicka was drawn to the manly charms of this sort of strongly structured face.

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France

Exhibitions

1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan

B.069

circa1925

Oil on cardboard

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp top right)

(Portrait d'André Gide)

Gide - presented here as a tortured figure - has been divested of his glasses, and provided instead with empty, black eyes (which is a sculptural technique). In his preface to the 1994 Exhibition of Rome catalog, Maurizio Calvesi writes: "The torment exuded by this face is achieved - in almost epic dimension - by the use of broken planes, and post-Cubist cutting up into facets, as an expressive, or rather, Expressionist, means. The brush sculpts, making the facial features look like they were vigorously carved with a chisel."

Collections

1980 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1984 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan

History

André GIDE, Client: In the year he had this portrait done (1925), André Gide (1869-1951) was fifty-six. Gide enjoyed sitting for portraits, and had served as model for, among others, Paul-Albert Laurens and Jacques-Emile Blanche. André Lhote did a very conventional likeness of him in red chalk (Daniel Offret Auction Sale, Drouot, 9 July 1987). It may have been through Lhote that the young Lempicka met this between-the-wars period literary giant.

Auctions

01/02/1980 - PARIS. Ader, Picard, Tajan. Drouot RG., # 182 $ 2 954

B.070

1925

Oil on canvas

T. DE LEMPITZKI (bottom right)

(Portrait du Prince Eristoff *)

An Italian city, which could very well be Florence, can be seen behind the drapery. In the same manner as the artists of the Quattrocento, Lempicka thus complements her portrait of this person by providing additional information on the sitter's idealized surroundings.

Collections

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1983 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1984 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1996 - Barry Friedman Ltd. "Tamara de Lempicka", New-York, United States
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

History

Prince ERISTOFF, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Prince Eristoff was descended from a very old (Transcaucasian) Georgia family. Nonetheless, judging from his portrait, he had adopted the British style as his own. This is another portrait that remained in Lempicka's studio.

B.071

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPITZKI. 1925 (bottom right)

(Portrait du marquis d’Afflito *)

The Roman pose the Marquis has struck here combines informality and elegance. The contact (bound to be somewhat humid) between the lush vegetation and the delicate tuxedo material effectively heightens the impact of this, otherwise somewhat commonplace, subject.

Collections

1968 - Private collection - Switzerland
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1973 - Private collection - France
1980 - Private collection - U.S.A.
1983 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1990 - Private collection - Italy

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan
1984 - Hollywood American Legion Post, "Tamara", Los Angeles, United States
1992 - The National Museum of Women in the Art, "Polish Women Artists and Avant-Garde/Voices of Freedom", Washington, United States

History

1925, Chronology: De Lempicka won public acclaim for her one-woman show at the Bottega di Poesia in Milan, organised by Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco. During a prolonged stay in the city she made the acqaintance of a number of italian aristocrats with influence in the art world.
Marquis D'AFFLITO, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Two portraits of Marquis D'Afflito had remained in Lempicka's studio: they may have been portraits of the two brothers. In effect, that is what the biography written by her daughter implies: "...When she (Tamara) dined in town with the D'Afflito brothers." Inseparable in real life, they remained so in Lempicka's depiction of them.

B.072

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (top right)

(Portrait de la Duchesse de La Salle *)

This portrait underscores this horsewoman's domineering effect by planting her on a staircase carpeted in red. The setting, constituted by a column and a theatrically imposing drape, seems more like an entranceway to a nightclub or any other night spot than the hallway of a ducal residence. The yellow windows of the lopsided houses throw light onto the winding roads, in a fashion reminiscent of films by Murnau.

Collections

1967 - Private collection - France
1988 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1991 - Private collection - Germany

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy
1926 - Salon d'Automne 1926, Paris, France
1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1976 - Musée des Arts Décoratifs, "Paris 1925", Paris, France
1977 - Nationalgalerie, "Tendenzen der Zwanziger Jahre", Berlin, Germany
1978 - Hayward Gallery, "Neue Sachlichkeit and German Realism of the 20s", London, Great Britain
1980 - Musée des Arts Décoratifs 1980, "La famille des portraits", Paris, France
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan
1986 - Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, "Androgyn", Berlin, Germany
1989 - Museo Nacional de Arte, "Tamara de Lempicka", Mexico, Mexico
1991 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, "Les années 20, l'âge des métropoles", Montréal, Canada
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy

History

Duchess DE LA SALLE, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Born in Athens in 1887, with Marika as her first name, the duchess owes her title to her marriage, in 1905, to Duke de la Salle de Rochemaure. This marriage was not to the liking of the family and thus ended in divorce, earning the duchess a sizeable alimony. Done up tightly in her riding attire, smoking a pipe or a cigar, the duchess - who continued to pride herself over her title - was most lavish with her newfound fortune, much of which she allotted to several artists encountered on social occasions (such as the English woman artist Marlow Moss). By the thirties, once her source of income had run dry, she withdrew, with her daughter Romana, to an Alpine village where she lived the simple life until her death in 1973. As can be seen in the panoramic view by Jacques-Henri Lartigue (see "Jacques-Henri LARTIGUE"), the large portrait of the duchess in her riding boots hung to the right of the bed in Lempicka's bedroom in her flat on rue Guy de Maupassant.

Auctions

12/11/1988 - NEW YORK. Sotheby's “5777-Merma”, # 404 $ 0

B.073

1925

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPITZKY (bottom right)

(Nu adossé I)

All trace has been lost of this painting, which appears on a photo taken during the Milan Exhibition of 1925.

Collections

1925 - Unknown collection -

Exhibitions

1925 - Bottega di Poesia, "Tamara de Lempitzka", Milan, Italy

B.074

circa1926

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPICKA. (bottom right)

(Nu adossé II)

This painting is a variant of the preceding one.

Collections

1987 - Private collection - France

Auctions

20/12/1983 - PARIS. Deurbergue, # 39 $ 23 750
06/12/1987 - MONACO. Christie's “Emile”, # 14 $ 33 400

B.075

circa1926

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp bottom left)

(Femme allongée dans l'herbe)

The model for this painting may be the same as the one who sat for "The Musician".

Collections

Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1981 - Walter Haas: Art Déco, le Style Moderne, Zürich, Switzerland

B.076

circa1926

Oil on canvas

(Joueuses de cartes)

Lempicka increasingly tautened the composition of her works, compressing the subject matter into the narrow confines of the canvas, and thus bringing the depiction ever more intensely alive.

Collections

1972 - Private collection - France
1975 - Stolen painting - France

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France

B.077

circa1926

Oil on canvas

(Portrait de S.A.I. le grand duc Gabriel *)

The archetypical exiled prince seeking to delude himself by once more donning - for the duration of the sitting - his richly brocaded and derisory finery. His face frozen into a stiff mask, his squinting eyes hardly conceal his vaguely helpless state. Contrasting with his pale and emaciated face, his fat red lips are somehow disturbing.

Collections

1981 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1975 - The Gallery Stratford, "Art Déco 1925-1935", Stratford, Canada
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy

History

Great duke Gabriel CONSTANTINOVITCH, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Grand Duke Gabriel Constantinovitch (Pavlosk, 1887 - Paris, 1955) was the son of the Duchess of Saxony, and the great grandson of Czar Nicholas I. A regimental lieutenant in the Hussar Guards, he became aide de camp to Nicholas II in 1910, and was a Knight of the Order of Saint André. According to Gioia Mori, "Grand Duke C. had been the president of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, which Tamara may have attended during her stay from 1914 to 1918..." His somewhat distraught countenance can be explained in the light of all the snubs he endured at the time of the Revolution (see the moving account by Gioia Mori, Tamara de Lempicka, Paris 1920-1938. op.cit. pp. 65-69). Actually, the haughty pride conveyed by his portrait is at variance with what we know of this pleasant and courteous figure, who published (in Russian, in New York) his memoirs under the title Dans un palais de marbre (In a Marble Palace). The portrait Lempicka did of him had remained in her studio.

B.078

1926

Oil on canvas

DE LEMPICKA (top right)

(Portrait du marquis d’Afflito à l’escalier)

From one portrait to the next, the Marquis never abandons his bow tie. Here he also wears an artfully tilted felt hat. The strong presence of eye-catching symbolic accessories links Lempicka to the great poster artists of her period.

Collections

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg - France
1973 - Private collection - U.S.A.
1994 - Barry Friedman Ltd. - U.S.A.
1997 - Private collection - U.S.A.

Exhibitions

1972 - Galerie du Luxembourg, "Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935", Paris, France
1975 - The Gallery Stratford, "Art Déco 1925-1935", Stratford, Canada
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1996 - Barry Friedman Ltd. "Tamara de Lempicka", New-York, United States
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

History

1925, Chronology: De Lempicka won public acclaim for her one-woman show at the Bottega di Poesia in Milan, organised by Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco. During a prolonged stay in the city she made the acqaintance of a number of italian aristocrats with influence in the art world.
Marquis D'AFFLITO, Portrait retained by Lempicka: Two portraits of Marquis D'Afflito had remained in Lempicka's studio: they may have been portraits of the two brothers. In effect, that is what the biography written by her daughter implies: "...When she (Tamara) dined in town with the D'Afflito brothers." Inseparable in real life, they remained so in Lempicka's depiction of them.

B.079

circa1926

Oil on canvas

T.DE LEMPICKA. (artist's stamp top right)

(Composition abstraite)

Abstraction intrigued Lempicka from early on, and she resorted to it periodically in stylistic exercises of this sort.

Collections

1988 - Private collection - France

Auctions

15/06/1988 - PARIS. Charbonneaux., # ? $ 15 833

B.080

circa1926

Oil on canvas

(Composition abstraite)

Collections

1980 - Lempicka Estate - U.S.A.

B.081

circa1926

Oil on canvas

(Kizette en rose *)

The studious little girl depicted here is dressed for summer, in an immaculately white (at the most, a faintly pink tinge justifies the work's title) dress. She has lost one shoe and, in very gracious fashion, she conceals her unshod foot. The position of her legs may be inspired by a famous Russian icon, "The Virgin of Tikhvin", where Baby Jesus, also holding a book, crosses his legs in like manner. The background is similar to the one in the artist's portrait of Arlette Boucard.

Collections

1928 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes - France

Exhibitions

1928 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, "Salon", Nantes, France
1981 - Seibu, "Tamara de Lempicka", Tokyo-Osaka, Japan
1994 - Accademia di Francia (Villa Medici), "Tamara de Lempicka/ Tra eleganza e trasgressione", Rome, Italy
1997 - Hiroshima Museum of Arts. Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo-Hiroshima, Japan

History

The poetry of PORTS, Biography, Psychology: In a delightful article published in the 16 June 1961 edition of Aux Ecoutes, the critic Michel Georges-Michel gave an account of his before-the-war encounter with Lempicka in a sailor bar in Cannes (see Bibliography Georges-Michel Michel, art. cit.). The shady and nostalgic poetry of ports was greatly appreciated in the realist literature and movies of this era. André Lhote, too, enjoyed depicting it.
Her Daughter KIZETTE, Family or close friend: Lempicka gave birth to her daughter at a very young age. Quite early on, she used Kizette as a model, painting her through a marvelling eye. The five large-scale portraits she did of Kizette, between 1923 and 1933, remain among the most noteworthy of her artistic accomplishments. Baroness de Lempicka-Foxhall, as Kizette has now become, gathered together her recollections and, with the help of Charles Phillips, published them in the form of a biography in 1987: Passion by Design, The Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka, op.cit.