Eighty years after the first solo exhibition devoted to this Polish artist was held in Milan in 1925, the infinite charm of the works and ideas of Tamara de Lempicka (Warsaw 1898 - Cuernavaca 1980) is again the focus of this extensive retrospective at Palazzo Reale.
This cosmopolitan and iconic Art déco painter created images that were to become symbols of an age, the "roaring" twenties and thirties of which she was a brilliant interpreter, introducing the symbols of modernity into her paintings and representing women who were emancipated, free, independent and transgressive. Considering life as a work of art and possessing an extraordinary, strong sense of self assertion, Tamara cultivated her artistic talent and also carefully created an image of an elegant, sophisticated woman, quickly becoming an extravagant protagonist of European society.
Edited by Gioia Mori and published for the Milanese exhibition, this monograph covers the career of this fascinating Polish artist who lived in Russia, Paris, Italy, then moved to the United States and spent the final years of her life in Mexico. A careful selection of paintings, as well as drawings, documents, photographs and footage, recreate the atmosphere of her times and its historical events, and also the trends in the arts during her lifetime, it is an itinerary that allows the spectator to become immersed in, and identify with the artist's world: a world of glamour yet scarred by the historical events of the twentieth century.
Among the masterpieces exhibited some of her most famous portraits stand out, as well as the nudes from her most successful years, these include La tunique rose (1927), Le rêve (1927), La belle Rafaela en vert (1927), Jeune fille aux gants (1930), La musicienne (1929), Nu aux buildings (1929), Le téléphone 2 (1930), Nu aux voilers (1931), Arlette Boucard aux arums (1931), Portrait de Marjorie Ferry (1932) and Portrait de Mademoiselle Poum Rachou (1934): these are unique portraits in their genial representation of high society during the interwar years. They depict everything that was considered glamorous and represented "modernity": the telephone, urban landscapes with skyscrapers, the sailboats at luxury seaside resorts. The women convey gelid, perfect confidence: deep red, precious, lipstick, immaculate hands, arms adorned in glittering jewels, self-confident and challenging glances, images close to the artifice and perfection of fashion photography. In these images the artist developed what she defined as the "amorous vision", in other words a deformed vision of the artist's feelings towards a person or object. In her paintings the figures almost explode tending to come out of the painting, expressing a solidity that contrasts with the ephemeral quality of the sentiments expressed; indeed the artist declared that she almost always portrayed men and women she loved. Thus the images waver between sensuality and gelid classicism.
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