She was smart. She was sexy. She was savvy. Most importantly, she was incredibly talented.
“Tamara de Lempicka,” a retrospective of the Polish-born painter currently on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), chronicles both her daring work and her even more daring life.
The exhibition opens with a wall-size image of the bisexual Lempicka. She is glamorous, chic, staring boldly into the camera, yet half of her face is in shadow. That is classic Lempicka—revealing and concealing at the same time.
The 90-plus works that make up the exhibit continue on the same theme. From the start of her career in Paris in the 1920s to her time in America during the 1940s and later when she eventually ceased exhibiting in the 1950s, her work and persona were simultaneously disclosed and obscured.
“I think it’s fascinating that she didn’t mind anyone knowing that she was gender fluid, but she felt that if anyone knew that she and her family were Jewish, they would be at risk,” says Alison de Lima Greene, curator for contemporary art and special projects at MFAH.
Early in her career, she even hid the fact that she was female.
“She didn’t want to be labeled a woman artist,” says Greene. “At first, she was reluctant to even sign her name. She never used her maiden name. When she submitted her work for exhibition, she signed it Lempicki, the masculine form of her husband’s name.
“There are all sorts of discussions about the queer masquerade and the ideas of ‘passing’ that are attached to people who are in any way ‘other.’ She created this vivid persona, in what were tough political times, that drew attention to telling details.”
With influences from the Cubist movement, fashion, and theater as well as design, Lempicka created her own style. The women in her portraits had ribbon-like hair. Their bodies are a combination of both angles and curves. They were equally solemn and carefree.
It was not only her style of painting that set Lempicka apart. She was a social lioness as well, and a star of Paris café society.
“Her ability to publicize the contradictory aspects of her life was rare. On one hand, she was the urban aristocrat wearing diamond jewelry. And on the other hand, she was the socially closeted libertine. I think she managed to play both those very different games at once. And she did it with incredible, consummate assurance,” notes Greene.
While leading a tour at the museum recently, Greene pointed out the fact that Portrait of a Man (Tadeusz Lempiki), which depicts Lempicka’s husband, was located directly across from a portrait of her longtime lover, Ira Perrot.
“I couldn’t resist,” Greene laughingly tells us. “It was a little bit naughty, but I couldn’t resist.”
Lempicka’s affairs took a toll on her marriage. Evident in Portrait of a Man, Lempiki’s left hand, where his wedding ring should have been, was left unfinished and sans a wedding band. The couple was divorced soon after. Lempicka went on to remarry and have many more affairs.
After exhibitions of her work in the early 1950s failed to impress either critics or fans, Lempicka decided to stop showing her paintings.
“By 1951, after some shattering experiences, she said, ‘Well, I have income from my husband. I don’t need to put myself through the indignity of being exhibited and not appreciated.’ So she pretty much withdrew from the public eye while still maintaining a very happy social life.”
Lempicka returned to popularity in 1972 when an exhibition of her early work was shown at the Galerie du Luxembourg in Paris.
“There was an ambitious young dealer who could see that there was already a sort of resurgence of Art Deco, and so he pursued her,” Greene tells us. “He finally convinced her that if she showed her Art Deco work with him, it wouldn’t be disdained and would restore her reputation. Indeed, he was right.”
Barbra Streisand, who contributed to the exhibition catalog, was among those who discovered Lempicka during that time and became an avid collector, as did Elton John and Madonna.
“Her work is avidly collected by people in the theater world who can appreciate that sort of masquerade persona,” says Greene. “I think that’s why people like Madonna and Barbra Streisand are so very struck by her.”
WHAT: Tamara de Lempicka exhibition
WHEN: Through May 26, 2025
WHERE: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet St.
INFO: mfah.org
