Tamara de Lempicka

Exhibition at the De Young Museum, San Francisco, October 12, 2024 - February 9, 2025 ;
then at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 9 - May 26, 2025

Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980), the “Baroness with the Brush”, is often considered one of the most celebrated artists of Art Deco, although her work transcends categorization, incorporating elements of Cubism and Neoclassicism in a distinctive and sensual blend of form and function. Lempicka's paintings, including a self-portrait at the wheel of an elegant green Bugatti, often depict dazzling, self-assured women, exuding elegance and transgressive sexuality while combining the modern and the classical.

This exhibition catalog presents Lempicka's entire career in the context of her life and evolving identity, including her Polish and Russian origins, her marriages and other relationships, and her time spent in France, Italy and the USA. The book unfolds chronologically in three sections that mark the stages in the artist's life and the evolution of her artistic style, with a particular focus on her Jewish heritage, gender expression and sexuality.