RoR: Forum

Thank you for this article. Lempicka has been one of my very favorites for a long time - too expensive to buy, but I've every book on her art, and I managed to make it to the few museum exhibitions that include her paintings.

Next: Could someone write an article here on Alfons Mucha?

Post 1

Friday, February 4, 2005 - 1:14am

What a surreal moment. I met with a new client this evening, and commented how beautiful I found one of the pieces of artwork in his restaurant's dining room.

It was a print of this painting.

Thank you, Mr. Scheider, for putting an exclamation point on my evening. :)

Post 2

Friday, February 4, 2005 - 10:44am

Tamara De Lempicka has been called the most famous painter of the Art Deco period.

And that's a high compliment.

A major Art Deco exhibit made it to San Francisco recently. A work of hers was on the cover of the catalog and 'highlighted' the whole show.

A beautiful, elegant woman in a shimmering, sensuous silk dress - a tight-fitting, vibrant electric green cocktail dress.

What struck me was the night and day contrast from how women dress like farmhands or proles today even often for something 'dressy' or when going out on a date - covered in a baggy, shapeless canvas or denim tent, mississippi shit-kicker boots or flipflops, ratty hair, "heyyouthinki'mgonnadressupforyou" attitude, etc.

De Lempicka (in those of her portraits that I like...I don't like all of them...many are too Nietzschean or solipsistic) fits perfectly as part of the Art Deco sense of life by reason of the love of the beautiful and by virtue of self-assertiveness and boldness.

De Lempicka's portrait, looking a bit like a cross between Rita Hayworth and Greta Garbo, was of someone Not Afraid To Be A Woman.

Click on this --> http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/lempicka/p-lempick9.htm

(This woman seems a bit younger than those two actresses in their heyday and seems to be riding in a roadster, perhaps holding onto her hat in the wind)....vibrance of the green a bit lost on the internet, though.)

Post 3

Friday, February 4, 2005 - 1:40pm

There's no denying the sensuality of her work. Very cool, very metallic (which may be the chosen tones, or that may be how it seems on the internet) and very (it seems) fragrant.

It strikes me on first viewing however that all her figures seem to have twisted and sometimes awkward or inelegant postures, and often somewhat lumpish figures? I can't find one that stands straight and tall.

The posture certainly gives movement to many of them, but I can't help feeling many of the figures seem almost trapped by the picture frame, and the compositions almost claustrophobic.

Care to comment?

Post 4

Friday, February 4, 2005 - 1:48pm

Adam: "Could someone write an article here on Alfons Mucha?"

How about you, Adam? :-)

I just searched based on your recommendation - there's some beautiful poster-work, and it seems some luminous painting, almost like Maxfield Parrish at twilight. He seems too to beautifully integrate geometric shapes with the compositions - perfectly suited of course to poster work, and something I always enjoy.

Post 5

Friday, February 4, 2005 - 2:31pm

Peter,

Thanks - maybe someday, if no one has by then. Right now I'm in my last year before the tenure decision, and in view of the current budget situation - which makes things more competitive than usual - I need to spend more time stacking my deck, and less on SOLO.

Post 6

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 12:33pm

While reading The Romantic Manifesto recently, I too concluded that much of Tamara de Lempicka's work seems to meet Rand's aesthetic standards.

However, I would like to correct a couple of misconceptions you seem to have.

First, Lempicka's work meets every criterion for categorization within the Art Deco movement. Since you offer no explanations or sources, I don't know why you balk at the idea, but among today's experts, de Lempicka's work is considered Art Deco.

Second, while she certainly did achieve great wealth during her career, only a portion was through personal income generated by commissions. Most was due to her marriage to Baron Raoul Kuffner von Diószeg. However, she is credited with saving his fortune during WWII, with her sound financial advice.

Post 7

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 - 3:57pm