Tamara De Lempicka

Tamara De Lempicka
(born Maria Gorska) painted mind-bogglingly sexy portraits- mostly of women- and was one of the pioneers of the art deco movement. Born in 1898 in Warsaw (or as she preferred- 1902 in Moscow) into a very wealthy family, Tamara quickly grew restless after her parents divorced and married Tadeuz Lempicka when she was 18 years old- after spotting him at an opera years earlier. He was a lawyer and total ladies man and was often out of work- prompting strain and resentment in their doomed coupling. In 1917 he was arrested during the Russian Revolution in the middle of the night- Tamara went to great efforts to rescue him, searching prisons for weeks. After his release they had a daughter together- Kizette.

During the 1920's she became involved in the budding art deco movement and was soon a sought after portrait painter of the wealthy elite- painting duchesses, counts, socialites, etc. Her talent was unquestionable and her popularity bloomed. Her works embodied the classic art deco style- they were smooth, architectural and modern. They also had almost a soft-core porn quality to them at times- oozing lush sexuality and vivid color. They were titillating pieces, but with a weight to them- the eyes often had a bleary, worn look of longing and disintegration in them- despite the themes of power and sensuality. Occasionally, out of nowhere, she would paint a religious figure when she wasn't busy painting nipples and butts. She also executed lovely still lifes- although even those were pretty suggestive.

Swept up in the art deco movement, Tamara also got pretty carried away with the "roaring 20's" bohemian life-style, and had numerous affairs. She was well known for having an insatiable libido and for being a pathological liar. Her husband eventually had enough once she took up with the night club singer Suzy Solidor (whom she painted often- she's the chick with the blonde bob hair-cut, below right) and he finally dumped her.















Tamara was not a great mother. She neglected her daughter, Kizette, and sometimes even denied her existence- afraid admission of her child would make her appear old. Often she would refer to Kizette as her sister. Even so, she immortalized her daughter in the many gorgeous portraits she did of her (note- Kizette sleeping, bottom left) - possibly propelled by her guilt over being such a shitty mom.

She also married a Baron (after he commissioned her for a portrait of his mistress), traveled around the world three times in a boat, and had her ashes scattered over a volcano by a Count when she died.

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