Curators are unraveling the mysteries of the belated art icon Tamara de Lempicka

Her first major US retrospective shines a new light on the Polish artist and her erotic, opulent portraits which helped define the Art Deco period.

With her portraits of red-lipped women painted like sculptures in resplendent jewel tones, the Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka has posthumously become an Art Deco icon. Her figures are sumptuous and moody, seemingly longing for something more as they pose in front of crowded skylines or behind the wheel of a car, scarves and draped gowns billowing in the wind. Though Lempicka never found sustained critical success during her lifetime (she died in 1980), she’s collected today by superstars including Barbra Streisand and Madonna — the latter who displayed some of Lempicka’s paintings onstage during her “Celebration” tour last year. Lempicka’s market has soared, with a painting of cabaret singer Marjorie Ferry setting her auction record at £16.3 million ($21.3 million) in 2020. A century after the height of her career, Lempicka’s life and work are fascinating the art world more than ever. Lempicka has never received a major museum retrospective in the US — until now. A new show at the de Young, a part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, will showcase more than 150 works. “She captured optimism as Europe was rebuilding itself after the First World War,” explained curator Furio Rinaldi — who organized the show with art historian and Lempicka biographer Gioia Mori — in a video call with CNN. “There was an electrifying sense of hope (for) a future and world where women had a new role; they entered the workforce in a massive way,” he said. “The fashion changed because they needed garments that allowed much more movement and freedom of expression and Lempicka really captured the essence of this new woman: liberated, sexually free, financially independent.” But Lempicka is often not given her due, Rinaldi explained, with her impact simplified. “She’s been perceived — mostly by art historians — as a phenomenon of the Art Deco period… of the world of decoration and fashion,” he said. “But actually she was much more than that. She’s an incredibly gifted and outstanding painter, possibly one of the best of her generation.”