Tamara Lempicka is a glamorous symbol of art deco

Painting Tamara Lempitskaya became one of the symbols of the Art Deco era. Often biographers fall into the extreme, focusing on the stormy social life of the artist. Do not forget that she was a genius of mystifications and a secular lioness, but first of all Tamara Lempitska devoted her life to painting. Despite the abundance of novels with women and men, art has always remained her most passionate passion.

Youth

The life story of the artist is full of white spots, and partly Tamara Lempitska herself is to blame. The biography was freely reshaped to appear in the most advantageous light. For example, at first, to hide the present age, she represented her daughter as her younger sister. She was born not in Moscow, not in the assurances of the artist herself in Warsaw. And her name was not Tamara: at the birth of the girl was christened Maria. Lempitsky - the surname of the first husband of the artist. And here is another discrepancy: if you believe the official year of birth (1898), it turns out that Tadeusz Lempitsky was fascinated by a fourteen-year-old girl. It is possible, of course, that the Polish lawyer was a scumbag to nymphets, but with the same probability one can assume that Tamara mocked herself for several years, and, according to some versions, the present year of her birth is 1895.

Be that as it may, some information remains reliable. The artist's mother, Malvina Decller, was what is called a secular lioness, Father Boris Gorsky - a Russian banker of Jewish origin. A few years after the birth of his daughter, he disappeared without a trace, according to some of the versions - committed suicide.

The first acquaintance with painting happened when Malvina Dekler ordered a portrait of a twelve-year-old daughter for an artist. Tamara did not like the picture at all and she said that she could have done better. In the same year, she and her grandmother go to Italy, where the girl gets acquainted with the masterpieces of classical art. At the age of 14, Tamara is sent to study in Switzerland, after which she is sent to St. Petersburg.

First successes

In St. Petersburg, Tamara got acquainted with her first husband, Tadeushem Lempitsky, from whom the artist gave birth to her only daughter, Kisetta. Looking ahead, I must say that the girl was more interested in the mother as a model than as a daughter. Usually the girl lived with her grandmother and the mother saw very rarely. But the artist wrote many of her portraits.

During the revolution, Tadeusz miraculously escaped execution, and the family emigrated to France. Here Tamara Lempitska begins to take painting lessons from A. Lot and M. Denis. Probably, having inherited from her father entrepreneurial talent, she quickly learned how to sell her paintings with great profit and organize exhibitions. In 1922 the artist already actively cooperates with the Autumn Salon and the Salon of Independent. The first time on the canvases and in the catalogs she signed the male pseudonym Lempitsky.

Flowering

In 1925, specially for his first solo exhibition, Tamara Lempitska wrote 28 paintings. One job at this time took her about three weeks. Equally, the artist loved high art and high society. The doors of fashionable salons and parties always burst open before her. She is happy to give secular entertainment, for inspiring many novels, may not appear for weeks at home. Tadeusz was tired of such a way of life and in 1927 he fled from his wife to Poland. They divorced 4 years later, despite the artist's attempts to return it.

By the end of the 20-ies Tamara Lempitska takes for a portrait of 50,000 francs. In terms of the current rate is about 20,000 dollars. At this time, were written "Spring", "Kisette on the balcony", "The height of summer," "Girl with gloves," "Saint-Moritz," "Beautiful Raphaella." This is the peak of her fame, after thirty orders became less and more critics. Art Deco lost popularity, and with it Lempitska as an artist. She was still a welcome guest at social events, but her failures in the work seriously disturbed her.

Woman in green Bugatti

Many call this work a self-portrait, there was too much in common with the artist with the portrait. Lempitska wrote it in 1929. A little later this work will get on the cover of Die Dame. From now on, the portrait will be considered the embodiment of an era and a modern woman - strong, independent, free and sensual. The composition is arranged diagonally, which gives the canvas dynamics. In coloring, the combination of green and steel with ocherous accents prevails. The colors of the picture are radiant, extremely clean.

Life in America

After marriage with the Baron Raul de Kuffner in 1933, the artist Tamara Lempitska left her husband's first husband's name, taking the deaf from the second. A new stage of her life begins, this time in America. If at the beginning of the decade the trips were episodic, then by the beginning of World War II, the family finally settled in New York. Lempicka herself called the US a country of endless possibilities, but it turned out to be cruel to it. In America, it was nicknamed "the baroness with a tassel," criticism of the fluff and ashes carried work, and orders every year became less. By the thirties, the work "Green Turban", "Portrait of Ira P.", "Portrait of Marjorie Ferry", "Straw Hat", "Woman with a Dove". The artist suffers from depression and lack of demand. In the late 30-40-ies increasingly it creates paintings on a religious theme. The most frequent motive is the grieving Mother of God with tears in her eyes. In 1930, Lempicka wrote "Theresa of Avila," one of her key works.

Teresa Avilskaya

This work is written on the motives of Baroque statue of Bernini "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa". The woman's face is given a very close-up, it occupies the main work area. It reads complete detachment from the earthly world, submergence in other matter. Equally, both suffering and bliss are read on it. The shadowed eyes of the saint contrast with full, sensual, "earthly" lips.

Immediately striking is the sculpture of the portrait. All facial features - eyes, eyebrows, nose, crease of lips - are thin and clearly delineated. Perhaps the portrait is even more sculptural than the statue that served as a prototype. The folds of the veils on the head of Saint Theresa are drawn in a textured manner. The cape is so bulky that it emerges from the plane of the canvas.

There are two basic colors in the color: steel and ocher. However, it does not look poor because of the abundance of halftones in the master work with chiaroscuro. The colors are bright and clean, like on other canvases by Lempitskaya, it seems that they do not shine. The picture is very expressive emotionally, it not only feels good possession of the technique, but also the deep emotional involvement of the artist.

Sunset career

29 lucky years, Lempicka was married to a baron. It was the most passionate admirer of the artist's work, he idolized her and her paintings. When he died of a heart attack in 1962, Lempicka wrote that she had lost everything. She built a luxurious mansion in the Mexican province and moved there permanently. Until the last days she was surrounded by luxury and young people. She was accompanied by her daughter Kisetta, who forgave her mother's inattention, and granddaughters. Among the last works of the artist are the Surrealist Hand, Portrait of Françoise Sagan, The Bowl with Grapes.

In 1972, a large-scale exhibition of the artist in Luxembourg was held. Her best paintings were painted here during the heyday. Unexpectedly for all and for the artist herself, the exhibition gained a resounding success among the younger generation. A lot of orders for the repetition of the famous canvases were received by the aging Tamara Lempitska. The paintings made as replicas, unfortunately, were much inferior to the originals. Over the years, the artist lost her former hand confidence and clarity of color perception.

Lempicka died at the age of 81, in 1980. Undoubtedly, she would be pleased to learn that today she is again part of a pleiad of the most expensive artists. Retrospective exhibitions are held regularly. Her works are in private collections of many influential people. Madonna - one of the most devoted connoisseurs of her work. Ashes of the artist, as she bequeathed, was scattered over the Mexican volcano Popocatepetl. For the descendants Lempick will forever remain a symbol of art deco and the stormy beginning of the twentieth century.