Tamara de Lempicka, a prominent female artist of the Art Deco era, was famous for her expressive and sensual female paintings. Her interwar artwork earned her the nickname "The Baroness with a Brush."

Lempicka's portraits often depicted her elite subjects in tantalizing textures that glowed with a flattering light. Lempicka's art portrayed influences from Neoclassicism and Cubism to Italian Mannerists such as Bronzino and Botticelli. Her ability to blend these classic and contemporary elements made her paintings unique.

Born in 1898 in Warsaw, Poland, Lempicka was born into a wealthy home and spent most of her young age living in Italy and Switzerland. During this time, she was primarily impressed by the works of the Mannerist and Renaissance masters. She laid the foundations for her artistic interests. Fleeing to France after the start of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lempicka met artists Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso. In France, she became a prominent part of the Parisian avant-garde movement. Fearing World War II, the artist moved to New York in 1939, where she developed her postwar Art Deco style. She continued to create paintings in this style for the rest of her life. Tamara De Lempicka Drawings can be seen online.

Today, Tamara de Lempicka's works from the Parisian avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s are the most sought after. It was during this period that the artist enjoyed high praise, painting dukes and counts. Her portraits of women are also in great demand in the art market. Among the top ten works of art by Tamara de Lempicka, paintings of women have been sold at record prices. There are many other art works which will be sold in the auctions, to see all these information see the Auction Previews of AuctionDaily.

The artist enjoyed a larger audience during her stay in France. However, after the 1930s, Lempicka struggled to find the right subject. She eliminated the lawsuit for her job. However, her art became popular again after the 1973 exhibition of her interwar artwork at the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris.

Tamara de Lempicka's art has been in high demand since her death in 1980 and attracted prominent personalities such as Madonna and Barbara Streisand. Madonna was such a fan of Lempicka's art that she added Tamara Lempicka images in the video for her famous song "Vogue." The singer is also known to be a prominent collector of Lempicka's artwork and helped regain her prominence.

Throughout the years, Tamara de Lempicka's nudes and portraits have been the top pick among glamorous art collectors, including celebrities. Lempicka's 1927 portrait titled Le réve (Rafaëla sur fond vert) was sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2011 in New York for a record price of $ 8.5 million.

Another prominent feature of Tamara de Lempicka's work is her appeal to fashion. In her self-portraits, the artist often wore well-known brands such as Coco Chanel. She led to the reproduction of her portraits in magazines such as Harper's Bazaar.

A notable example is the famous portrait of Ira Perrot, titled La Musicienne, where Perrot plays the mandolin in a long blue dress. This portrait appeared on the cover of German magazine Die Dame in 1930. La Musicienne broke Lempicka's previous record by fetching $ 9.1 million at Christie's auction in November 2018 in New York.

In November 2019, Lempicka's La Tunique Rose (1927), which portrays her popular subject Rafaela Fano, sold at a Tamara De Lempicka auction in New York for $ 13.3 million. It broke Lempicka's previous record with the highest estimate of $ 8 million. Rafaela, according to Lempicka, was "the most beautiful woman I have ever seen (Lempicka)".

Lempicka's artwork broke its November 2019 record just three months later, on February 5, 2020. Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art auction in London sold Lempicka's Portrait of Marjorie Ferry for $ 21.1 million. The 1932 Jazz Age monochrome portrait features cabaret singer Ferry in Paris. The Marjorie Ferry painting was originally commissioned by the singer's wealthy husband. He portrays Ferry in Lempicka's signature style that includes play of light and sharp angles. The same painting was also previously offered at auction in 2009 and sold for $ 4.9 million to Wolfgang Joop, a German fashion designer.

The art market has seen a steady increase in demand for works of art by Tamara de Lempicka in recent years. Nearly 20 paintings by the Art Deco painter have raised more than $ 1 million at auctions. The glamor and sensuality of her artwork and the availability of Lempicka's finest works are some of the reasons for the constant demand in the collector's market.

Media source: AuctionDaily