2024-04-25
In 2022, the work of Tamara Lempicka took over the Polish art scene. The renewed admiration for the works of the Queen of Art Déco was linked to exhibitions organized at the time, including at the National Museum in Kraków and the National Museum in Lublin. The exhibitions presented the artist's oeuvre, using works from private and public collections, including those abroad. The increased interest in Lempicka has also translated into auction records, which have given the artist a high position on today's art market. In addition, more and more young artists are turning to the art déco style, imitating or copying Tamara Lempicka's iconic works. As a result, the availability of works cultivating this aesthetic is now quite high, and the affection for art déco is not diminishing among collectors. To explain this phenomenon, it is worth learning more about the artist's life and why her works appeal to contemporary collectors.
Tamara Lempicka was born in 1898 in Warsaw. She came from a wealthy Jewish family, whose status enabled the artist to travel (especially to Italy), learn about art and make valuable friends. Lempicka spent the second decade of the 20th century in St Petersburg, where she met her husband. During the October Revolution, the couple moved to Paris. There, the painter began actively selling her paintings for profit. Using her connections and unique artistic style, Lempicka gained recognition on the Paris art scene. In the 1920s she painted mainly portraits and nudes, for which the artist's mistresses, among others, posed. Her free-spirited and turbulent lifestyle at the time was marked by numerous scandals, which eventually led to Tamara's divorce from her husband. A year before World War II, Lempicka and her second husband immigrated to Beverly Hills, California, due to the ongoing Nazi persecution of Jews in Europe. While living in the United States, the painter tried to curry favour with the art community there, but her style was considered outdated. After moving to New York in 1943, Lempicka continued to create in her characteristic manner, tackling current social issues and experimenting with abstraction and surrealism. The lack of positive response to her works caused the artist to suspend her painting career for almost a decade. Her return to art in the 1950s manifested itself in the form of dynamic abstractions, but even this failed to restore the popularity she once experienced in Paris. As a result, Tamara Lempicka was forgotten as an artist and considered her career over. She spent the last years of her life in Mexico. She died in 1980 in Cuernavaca.
Tamara Lempicka's paintings are characterized by elegance, austerity of form and clear contours. These features are the quintessence of art déco aesthetics. The artist became particularly famous for her portraits and female nudes, in which the figures represent modern lifestyles in luxurious surroundings. One of these is the famous 'Self-Portrait in a Green Bugatti', which has become an iconic image of the era and the definition of art déco style. Lempicka depicts her portrayed subjects in a distinctive way, deforming the structure of the human body and leading them into spaces with complex, unusual lighting. Almost every painted element exudes great decorativeness. The artist emphasized precision, detail, interesting colours, distinction, and exquisiteness of representation and, above all, an interesting depiction of the figure.
In 2019, Tamara Lempicka's painting 'La tunique rose' was sold at Sotheby's New York branch for US$13.4 million (approximately PLN 52 million), making her the most expensive Polish artist. At the time, the estimate for this highly erotic work was estimated at $6-8 million. In 2020, Christie's auction house in London fetched PLN 82 million for Lempicka's 'Portrait of Marjorie Ferry'. The portrait made history as the most expensive Polish painting sold, and as one of the most expensive works of art by a woman in the world. The work also topped its estimate twice. Another record was set in 2023, when Christie's in New York sold the painting 'Kizette in a pink dress' for USD 14.785 million (approximately PLN 58 million), depicting the artist's daughter. In Poland, there is also no lack of interest in Lempicka's work. In 2020, the painting 'Reading I' was auctioned in Desa Unicum for almost PLN 4.5 million. Works on canvas by Tamara Lempicka have achieved high prices in recent years and are very popular. However, you do not have to be a millionaire to own a work by the Queen of art déco in your collection. The artist left numerous prints that strongly allude to (or copy) her paintings, worth millions and are available on the Polish art market. In Artbidy's offer, you will also find noteworthy works on paper by Lempicka. Trends on the art market in recent years clearly indicate an increase in the value of Tamara Lempicka's works, which means that even buying the artist's prints today is a good investment.
