London
Tamara de Lempicka
Royal Academy | Burlington Gardens
6 Burlington Gardens
July 24, 2013–August 30, 2004
Kunstforum
September 16, 2004–January 2, 2005
Curated by Evelyn Benesch, Ingried Brugger, Simonetta Fraquelli, and Norman Rosenthal
Putting her art at the disposal of the moneyed European, and, later, American, class to which she belonged, Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980) created some of the most iconic paintings of the Art Deco period. This first major UK exhibition of her work gathers fifty-five portraits, still lifes, and nudes mainly from the interwar era and features a comprehensive catalogue with essays by, among others, Alain Blondel, author of Lempicka's catalogue raisonné. The artist's bohemian life is easily read in her sleek, often androgynous portraits, and women—reclining, heavy-lidded nudes à la Ingres; glass-eyed flappers draped in starched yet shapely raiment—have never looked so perfectly dominating.
Travels to Kunstforum, Vienna, Sept. 16–Jan. 2, 2005.