Tamara de Lempicka (1889-1980)

I love art. But art is very subjective and highly personal.

Many moons ago l opened an art gallery in Brighton called Synergy on Western Road. The fun side was seeing so many artists bringing their work in, and how much talent is out there. The tough side was trying to make the right decision as to what would sell and trying hard to remove my personal feelings and guess what the public wanted. I guess we got it right as it was very successful, and l got to meet and work with some hugely talented people.

If l had to choose one artist whose work l love it would be the Polish-born artist, Tamara de Lempicka (1889-1980). Her style is Art Deco and the way she painted the folds of fabric on her models is stunning and really difficult to master.

My oldest friend is a French artist, Lionel Dumas, who introduced me to de Lempicka’s work and who modelled his style on her early pieces. We all know that artists can really struggle to make a living and it is the likes of de Lempicka that likely keeps them going.

De Lempicka, a bisexual society artist, was very clear about who she was and, above all else, who she aspired to be. "I was the first woman to paint pictures that were neat, precise and finished and that was the secret to their success. Out of a hundred paintings, it was always possible to recognise mine”.

Her style was once described as “lighting by Caravaggio, tubism by Fernand Léger, and lipstick by Chanel,” used to be found in Art Deco rather than Modern art sales. But because of the appeal they have to Hollywood stars (Madonna, Barbra Streisand, et al) and the wealthy owners of period properties in Florida and the Upper East Side of New York, they now receive star billing alongside Picasso and Giacometti.

Following the auction record of $13.3 million set in 2019 for her seductive La Tunique Rose (1927), de Lempicka’s star is ascendant; her particular price trajectory is one of the positive features of the  current art market.

Her slinky portrait of the Parisian nightclub singer Marjorie Ferry (Portrait de Marjorie Ferry -1932) was sold back in 1995 for $552,500. Fourteen years later it rose to $4.9 million. In January 2020 it was offered at £8-12 million ($10.4–15.7 million) at auction by Christie’s.

Two phone bidders, one from the US and another from the chairman’s London office, slugged it out to a new record £16.3 million ($21.2 million). Not a bad return: $16 million in ten years.

De Lempicka died in 1980 which played its part in the increased price of her work.

By Maarten Hoffmann

Art Lover and Managing Director – Platinum Media Group