Tamara de Lempicka

A landmark retrospective on the Art Deco painter exploring her intersectional identities

Tamara de Lempicka (1894-1980), the ＂Baroness with a Brush,＂ is often cast as one of Art Deco’s most celebrated artists, though her work transcends categorization, incorporating elements of Cubism and Neoclassicism in a distinctive, sensuous blend of form and function. Lempicka’s paintings, including a self-portrait as the driver of a sleek green Bugatti, often depict dazzling, self-assured women, exuding elegance and transgressive sexuality while combining the modern with the classical.

This gorgeous survey presents the full arc of Lempicka’s career in the context of her life and her evolving identity, including her Polish and Russian origins, her marriages and other relationships, and her time in France, Italy, and the United States. This book unfolds chronologically through three sections that mark the stages of the artist’s life and the evolution of her artistic style, with particular focus on her Jewish heritage, her expression of gender, and her sexuality.

Published in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Exhibition schedule:

Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(October 12, 2024-February 9, 2025)

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
(March 9-May 26, 2025)

Gioia Mori is professor of history of contemporary art at Accademia di Belle Arti, Rome. Furio Rinaldi is curator of drawings and prints at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.