Broken up into five sections, Stefanie Penck covers the major segments within Lempicka's life while juxtaposing it against works that the painter created during these periods. Tamara de Lempicka was born Maria Górskain Warsaw, Poland. She later immigrated to Paris where she spent her most vibrant and fruitful years as a painter between 1919 and 1929.
Penck's View of Lempicka as the Femme Fatale
Penck refers to Lempicka as a "femme fatale" in the foreward to her book, setting the tone for a richly art-deco experience in this brief and poignant glimpse of a woman who married into privilege and ascended to both fame and infamy through her works as a painter. Lempicka only focused on people she thought to be "the best," which referred mainly to royalty and well-off society which included Princes, Duchesses, Dukes and Heirs. Despite her world-wide visibility, she was mainly popular during her time in Paris.
Lempicka's Societal Campaign
Lempicka's first campaign to promote herself within society came when she worked though her uncle to marry Tadeusz Lempicki in 1916. It was with her first husband that she made the move to Paris. She gave birth to a daughter Kizette de Lempicka who would become the subject of many of her paintings. Lempicka's image as a femme fatale would also continue on through her daughter as mistreatment of Kizette was often clear and adamant.
Penck's View of the Artist
Penck shows Lempicka for what she was known for outside of the art world. Lempicka was a snob who would never allow herself to be associated with people she did not think of as equal or better than herself. She did not paint the middle class, "normal people" or those that she viewed as meerly "nice." Her body of work that has been left to the world is a clear example of the lush decodance that prevaded much of the 1920's aristocratic lifestyles.
Move to America
Penck lightly touches on the time that Lempicka would spend in America with her second husband, Baron Raoul Kuffner. It is a time that follows Lempicka's life in the lime light in Paris where she would promote her work predominately in New York before her death in 1980. It is also one of the more interesting chapters of the book as Penck uses quotes alongside the prints to paint a clearer picture of who Tamara de Lempicka was as a person. It greatly adds to the book outside of the indepth and interesting passages that Penck included in the earlier sections of the concise biography.
Tamara de Lempicka by Stefanie Penck is available through Prestel Books with ISBN 379133171X.
Join the Conversation