Tamara De Lempicka | The Dream | VideoArt

"...I live life

in the margins of society,

and the rules of normal society

don't apply to those

who live on the fringe".

- Tamara De Lempicka (1898-1980)

Tamara De Lempicka was one of the best-known painters of the Art Déco style, a group which included Jean Dupas, Diego Rivera, Josep Maria Sert, Louis Lozowick, and Rockwell Kent, but unlike these artists, who often painted large murals with crowds of subjects, she focused almost exclusively on portraits.

Lempicka's own description of her work:

"I was the first woman to make clear paintings, and that was the origin of my success ...

Among a hundred canvases, mine were always recognizable.

The galleries tended to show my pictures in the best rooms, because they attracted people.

My work was clear and finished. I looked around me and could only see the total destruction of painting.

The banality in which art had sunk gave me a feeling of disgust.

I was searching for a craft that no longer existed; I worked quickly with a delicate brush.

I was in search of technique, craft, simplicity and good taste.

My goal: never copy.

Create a new style, with luminous and brilliant colors, rediscover the elegance of my models".