Lecture 11 February 2026 The Art Deco Diva — Tamara de Lempicka

With love in the air Horsham Arts Society welcome its members and visitors to a topical lecture about the love, life and art of self-styled art deco diva Tamara de Lempicka. Our lecturer Alexandra Epps narrated a most fascinating story of the glamorous and sensational life of this 20th century icon.

Born in 1894 of Russo-Polish family, Tamara enjoyed a privileged childhood in Petrograd (now St Petersburg), and undertook a grand tour of Italy with her grandmother at the age of 12, where her amazing perceptiveness was nurtured through the arts — Renaissance masters, ballet and opera. This formative experience proves to be a rich and lasting legacy.

Tamara married in 1916 to a Polish lawyer Tadeusz Lempicki but the fairy tale wedding soon evaporated with the October Revolution of 1917 and she fled to Paris where her circumstances were much reduced, having to sell her jewellery to pay for very shabby lodging. Her husband joined her in Paris after Tamara exchanged sexual favours with the Swedish consulate for his release. But it was not a happy marriage which ended in 1928, and she married the baron Raoul Kuffner in 1933.

The transformative moment for Tamara came in 1925 with her one woman show in Milan which established her reputation as a portrait painter for the high society. She developed a new identity with a name change to Lempicka. Her self-invention is emblazoned in her “Autoportrait 1929” in a green Bugatti. This instantly iconic image evokes the independent modern woman, rule breaking, transgressive sexuality, i.e. a new feminine power.

Commissions came from the rich and famous including the Duchess de la Salle and Suzy Solidor who was reputed to be the most painted woman in the world in 1933 with whom Tamara had a brief affair. All the while, Lempicka was experimenting and defining her style which is distinctive by its strong vivid colours, very close frame of her models, and exuding vitality and sensuality. The portraits often depict the human figure in dynamic geometric form, showing the influence of Cubism. Her full embrace of modernity, fashion and beauty was supercharged from her time spent in New York and Hollywood. Skyscrapers form the backdrop of paintings and Tamara styled herself in the image of Garbo and Dietrich. The Art Deco Diva was born! However, the gift of the Renaissance masters was never forgotten. Her homage was evident when juxtaposed with her modern creations and perhaps best summed up in her own words: “Lighting by Caravaggio, lipstick by Chanel!”.

Tamara de Lempicka’s life is often regarded as an enigma, perhaps reflected in the unknowable detached beauty in her art — and perhaps promoted from her numerous self-reinventions. However, her resilience, fierce independence, and her unique talent did capture the glamour and romanticism of the modern times — the Art Deco period as it was later known. But Lempicka was at the heart of it — claiming, rightfully, her title as The Art Deco Diva!