Recently I finally had the pleasure of seeing the exhibition of Tamara Lempicka at the National Museum in Cracow. I must admit, I couldn't be more excited as she is one of the most intriguing female artists in history.
Polish-Jewish background, two times married, an icon of the Art Deco, a master of marketing: excellent skills, lots of scandals, rumours with a giant spoon of glamour - this woman was ahead of her time.
Though she wasn't affiliated with Cracow, my beautiful city has had a chance to host her art.
Lempicka, as I mentioned, was an excellent-skilled artist. She wasn't attending any of the art schools in her adolescence but taking lessons from private teachers. She was inspired by the Italian renaissance (as the Art Deco era). In 1917, after her moving to Paris joins the École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, her teachers are Maurice Denis and Andre Lhote.
Her career started in Paris, with a little help from her sister Adrianne, a dash of scandal and an excellent sense of trend.
Cracow's exhibition is good. It shows lots of her artwork, and it's well carried out - paintings are illuminated with spotlights, as well as descriptions. The black walls are not contrasting and don't take all the attention, the veils between the parts reminiscence of an old Parisian cafe.
Just by the entrance, we are presented with her palette and box of paints, behind we see the curtain and a sneak of the most intriguing paintings - two portraits of her daughter and an unfinished portrait of her husband.
I must say - I was impressed to this moment - the room full of her great painting from the era with some significance: the portraits, the famous nude pose Beautiful Rafaela and some of the not-well-known still natures. Another, smaller room is even more interesting, as we see her paintings from the 50s and 60s, completely different styles - abstractions and some inspired by impressionism - pastel colours, much more delicate of form and impasto.
The exhibition contains also two more rooms - one is filled with her famous photoshoots and a few old films (by the way in the corner there hangs another unfinished painting called Grandmother, completely out of the vibe) and a shop with the collection of the notebook, silk scarfs, very expensive socks, and whatsoever. I like the idea of a collection dedicated to the exhibition - it's well-prepared and reminds me of the Parisian Centre du Pompidou or Londoner Tate.
To sum up - I am happy that it's the third exhibition of her artworks in Poland. I wish there would be more of her personal items, more of other paintings and sketches and projects to see the whole spectrum of her artwork. It's a good exhibition, worth seeing and definitely a great opportunity for the next ten or twenty years. Oh, the tickets are rather expensive.
Nareszcie miałam przyjemność zobaczyć wystawę Tamary Łempickiej w Muzeum Narodowym w Krakowie. Muszę przyznać, że nie mogłam być bardziej podekscytowana, bo to jedna z najbardziej intrygujących artystek w historii.
Polsko-żydowskie pochodzenie, dwukrotna mężatka, ikona Art Deco, mistrzyni marketingu: doskonałe umiejętności, mnóstwo skandali, plotek z gigantyczną łyżką glamour - ta kobieta wyprzedzała swoje czasy.
Choć nie była związana z Krakowem, moje piękne miasto miało okazję gościć jej sztukę.
Łempicka, jak wspomniałam, była artystką o doskonałych umiejętnościach. W okresie dojrzewania nie uczęszczała do żadnej ze szkół artystycznych, ale pobierała lekcje u prywatnych nauczycieli. Inspiracją dla niej był włoski renesans (jako epoka Art Deco). W 1917 roku po przeprowadzce do Paryża wstępuje do École Nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, jej nauczycielami są Maurice Denis i Andre Lhote.
W Paryżu rozpoczęła się jej kariera, z niewielką pomocą siostry Adrianne, szczyptą skandalu i doskonałym wyczuciem trendu.
Krakowska wystawa jest dobra. Pokazuje wiele prac artystki i jest dobrze przeprowadzona - obrazy są oświetlone punktowymi reflektorami, podobnie jak opisy. Czarne ściany nie są kontrastowe i nie zabierają całej uwagi, zasłony między częściami przypominają starą paryską kawiarnię.
Tuż przy wejściu prezentowana jest nam jej paleta i pudełko z farbami, za nimi widzimy kurtynę i zajawkę najbardziej intrygujących obrazów - dwóch portretów córki i niedokończonego portretu męża.
Muszę przyznać - do tej pory byłam pod wrażeniem - pokój pełen jej wspaniałego malarstwa z epoki o pewnym znaczeniu: portrety, słynna naga poza Piękna Rafaela i kilka mało znanych martwych natur. Druga, mniejsza sala jest jeszcze bardziej interesująca, ponieważ widzimy jej obrazy z lat 50-tych i 60-tych, w zupełnie innych stylach - abstrakcje i niektóre inspirowane impresjonizmem - pastelowe kolory, dużo delikatniejsze formy i impasto.
Wystawa zawiera jeszcze dwie sale - jedna wypełniona jest jej słynnymi sesjami zdjęciowymi i kilkoma starymi filmami (swoją drogą w rogu wisi jeszcze jeden niedokończony obraz Babcia, zupełnie nie w klimacie tego pokoju) oraz sklepik z kolekcją notesów, jedwabnych szali, bardzo drogich skarpetek i czego tam jeszcze. Podoba mi się pomysł kolekcji poświęconej wystawie - jest dobrze przygotowana i przypomina mi paryskie Centre du Pompidou albo londyńskie Tate.
Podsumowując - cieszę się, że to już trzecia wystawa jej prac w Polsce w tym roku. Chciałabym, żeby znalazło się więcej jej osobistych przedmiotów, więcej innych obrazów i szkiców oraz projektów, żeby zobaczyć całe spektrum jej twórczości. To dobra wystawa, warta obejrzenia i zdecydowanie wielka szansa na następne dziesięć czy dwadzieścia lat. Aha, bilety są raczej drogie.
When I look at painting I always seek for beautiful details
I love this style - the embroidered blazer, the hair and make up, the pose
I wish that more of her personal belongings were exhibited. It adds this enormous feeling of getting to know the person, like visiting the house.
These words are great wisdom to any contemporary artist.
This velvet frame is on point. It simply highlight the eyes on the painting.
Can you spot the her signature? This is taken exactly from the renaissance.
I am huge fan of her still natures. Although, some of the pieces are a little plasticky, the composition is perfect and the way of painting the fabrics and the details.
I love looking at unfinished paintings. It discovers a lot of the techniques and brings a lot to one's imagination.
Amazing
You can totally see the inspiration of the Rennaisance in her style
And then the last one...
She would have been studying at the same time as Picasso and the Cubists, no?
So interesting she uses two such different genres. The soft, realistic Renaissance and then abstract - more Cubist here
Yes! Her statement about not following the crowd and doing what she likes and wants
I guess that's why she was comfortable to move between styles!
Lovely piece 💗
Not exactly with Picasso, as he was already famous, but cubims influenced her a lot, specially early works.
She is very complex person, a lot of misinformation, even for her biographs.
Thank You a lot for an appreciation. 😊
Nice to meet a fellow art lover 😊
Thank you for the info. I hadn't heard of her until I read your post 👏
That was nice to follow!!
Also cool the even but her painting set there, for sure if there was more it would almost feel like you enter her atelier...:)
I appreciate the background information of this talented artist. This is the first I’ve heard of Tamara and I will say her artwork intrigued me. I’m a fan of bright vibrant colors and a few of the paintings here had that. I appreciate the details in her work as well.
This post on art history would fit well in the Art Talk Community. The OCD Community is for general topic post that do not fit in any of the other communities.
Thank You! There’s a lot more about her than the Art Deco era, which she was famous for.
I didn’t know the community, I am going to join 😊
Awesome, glad to hear. I hope you enjoy posting and mingling there ~ 😉
Yay! 🤗
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