Wednesday 16 May 2018

Create a new style




"I live life in the margins of society, and the rules of normal society don't apply to those who live on the fringe."

"My goal is never to copy. Create a new style."


From The Art Story website:
Tamara de Lempicka was the lone traditional easel painter in the entirety of the Art Deco style. Her sources of inspiration ranged dramatically: she adored Italian Renaissance painting; she was characterized by critics as a sort of modern-day Ingres, although the comparisons were more often not intended to flatter; she absorbed the avant garde art of the era - particularly post-cubist abstraction but of a "softened" style. Perhaps most influential was Lempicka's desire to capitalize on her social connections to create a niche for her portraiture, which most often featured well-to-do, cosmopolitan types.

The Art Deco style, lavish in a less visually complex way than its predecessor, Art Nouveau, was probably the ideal vehicle for her trendy style. Most notably, despite its decorative quality, her work provided her with an outlet for unconventional self-expression: truly a product of her era, the libertine golden age between the two world wars, Lempicka, a bisexual, made bold, liberated female sexuality the lynchpin of her art.






Needless to say, we at Dolores Delargo Towers adore her - as does Google, paying tribute to her today with a Google Doodle on the occasion of her 120th birthday.



Tamara de Lempicka (born Maria Górska, 16 May 1898 – 18th March 1980)

14 comments:

  1. One of my fave artists of the Art Deco era! Love her stylized paintings! I was blown away the first time I came across her works in a library book when I was 14. Just Wow!

    I'm also a fan of Art Nouveau.

    If I recall correctly, she was also a Baroness. I remember this, because the only other time I heard someone referred to as a Baroness was the fancy, rich lady from The Sound of Music, who lost her fiance, a decorated naval captain, to a singing, curtain clothes making, puppet voicing, dancing nun.

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    1. That's showbiz, folks! Jx

      PS She was indeed nick-named "The Baroness with a Brush", and mixed in the highest social circles. When she died, apparently "her ashes were scattered over the volcano Popocatepetl by Count Giovanni Agusta." As one does.

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    2. The Barnoess from the Sound of Music was the late, lovely Eleanor Parker. I adored her.

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    3. We did too - see here and here. Jx

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    4. puppet voicing !!! surely you can't be referring to the lovely Dame Julie Andrews.

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    5. "Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo!"

      Jx

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  2. And we will never see again, probably, a baroness with a brush....

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    1. Definitely not one with such panache... Jx

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  3. I am ashamed to say that I had not heard of her until now, so thank you Jon.
    However, I will pass on that green one with the prominent nippular area (although, I do love her rendition of the gloved hand that covers her quince).

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    1. That "green-lady-with-nipple-glove-and-quince" is one of my favourites - but the very best of all has to be her self-portrait [note: NOT a fucking "selfie"!] driving the sports car... Jx

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  4. There definitely needs to be a bio-pic of Lempicka, perhaps starring Madonna (since she never got around to portraying Frida Kahlo).

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