(Warsaw 1898–1980 Cuernavaca/Mexico) Chambre d’hôtel/Hotel room, circa 1951, signed Lempicka, oil on canvas, 56 x 48 cm, framed, (PP)

Exhibition: Da de Chirico a Fontana - Gli anni d’oro di Montecatini Terme, Montecatini, 27 September - 3 November 2002; Tamara de Lempicka, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 5 October 2006 – 14 January 2007 Literature: Alain Blondel, Tamara de Lempicka, Catalogue raisonné 1921–1979, Lausanne, Acatos, 1999, no. B. 301 with ill., p. 359 (with incorrect measurements); exh. cat., Da de Chirico a Fontana - Gli anni d’oro di Montecatini Terme, a cura di Daniele Crippa, Montecatini, 27 September - 3 November 2002, ill. pp. 127 and 223; exh. cat. Tamara de Lempicka, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 5 October 2006 – 14 January 2007, cat. no. 58, p. 166 with ill. pp. 166–167 Provenance: Galleria Bonaparte, Milan; European private collection Tamara de Lempicka celebrated her artistic breakthrough in 1925 at the ‘Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes’. She enjoyed great success as an art deco painter with her style, which incorporated Cubist elements and a simple, stylized figuration, in the 1930s. De Lempicka led a colourful life which has been recorded in the contemporary history of artistic and society circles. She chose her subject matter from the world of the rich and beautiful. This work, ‘Chambre d’hôtel’, which was not produced until circa 1950 after the artist had emigrated to the USA, also belongs to this pictorial theme. Tamara de Lempicka creates a sophisticated hotel room in her metallic painting style, depicting very few elements of the room, such as a chest of drawers and a lamp on it, an armchair, a cushion, part of a door and a mirror. By means of the mirror, in which one can see the wall behind it, the room is confined and the viewer is brought into the room. The cool colours, the objectivity and the intimations of the Renaissance lend a particular elegance to the room. As the daughter of parents from the Polish high bourgeoisie, the artist led a luxurious life with her husband, Tadeusz Lempicki, who she met in Moscow. She continued her glamorous life during the time she lived in Paris, achieving a reputation as a femme fatale. In 1939 she left for the USA with her second husband, Baron Kuffner, where she lived until 1974. Tamara de Lempicka died in Cuernavaca, Mexico in 1980.