Student A

Tamara Łempicka (Tamara de Lempicka)

Paninter of Polish descent who figures among the most significant representatives of Art Deco aesthetics. The

aesthetics developed by Lempicka appealed to the tastes of the affluent bourgeoisie of 1).…….………..century.

Tamara Łempicka was born in Moscow in 2) .....………………………….and died in Mexico in 3) 1980. Her

father, Borys Gurwik-Gorski was 4) a wealthy Russian Jew, a merchant or an industrialist, while her mother,

Malwina née Dekler, came from 5)………………………………….. Tamara and her siblings, Adrienne and

Stańczyk, were raised by their mother and the Dekler grandparents’ house in 6).…………………………….. The

Deklers were part of the cultural and social elite, friends of Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Artur Rubinstein, among

others.

Her father disappeared from Tamara's life when she was only a few years old and the circumstances of his

leaving remained the artist's painful and deeply hidden secret. She claimed her parents got divorced, but it is

believed that Borys Gorski 7)………….………………………… As an adult Lempicka liked to emphasise that she

was Polish. She probably even forged her birth certificate claiming Warsaw instead of Moscow as her birthplace.

In 1911, Tamara moved to 8) Saint Petersburg to live with her relatives. There at the Academy of Fine Arts she

took drawing classes, and greatly enjoyed social and cultural life in the evenings. The relatives-The Stifers took
her to 9) ballet shows, as well as to exclusive concerts and recitals at the 10).…….….…...……..….………....

……. of the Romanovs. During one of the elite balls Tamara met her husband, Tadeusz Łempicki, a young lawyer

and socialite. Tamara married Łempicki in 11) Saint Petersburg in 1916 and gave birth to their daughter Maria

Krystyna. Tadeusz Łempicki was arrested during the Russian Revolution of 1917. After he was released they left

for Paris in 12).……………..…..……..…..….

Tamara Lempicka began her studies in Maurice Denis's studio at the Academie Ranson in Paris. He was a 13 )

demanding and disciplined teacher. His students mastered 14)..…….....….....…...……….....…....…........ and the

mysteries of painting methods. His views on art and his painterly work were of significance to her. Yet it were the

tips given by her next teacher, 15)..............................., painter, decorator, critic and art theoretician, that proved

essential in Lempicka's work. Lhote was a promoter of modernising salon painting by using the principles of

experimental painting from Impressionist ideas concerning colour up to Cubist constructions of space within

paintings. Lhote's work had nothing in common with the avant-garde explorations then present in painting, and

which in the case of Impressionism, and Cubism in particular, questioned the system of presentation rooted still in

the tradition of the Renaissance. His goal was to work out a compromise, an agreeable form which would flatter

the conservative tastes of the affluent bourgeoisie, while giving the art public a sense that the paintings they

bought were "moving with the times".

Most of all, in Lhote's studio Lempicka learned how to skilfully merge modern forms of illustration with the

great academic tradition, such a Poussin's, David's or Ingres's classic art forms. Her works were marked

by post-cubist stylisation, the forms made of simplified blocks, yet arranged according to the classic

order. Lempicka broadened her interest in art tradition. She was fascinated by 16)....

………………………………………..…….and went to Italy to study the works of the 17) old masters; inspired by

this art class she decided to use luminous, clear and vivid colours, finishing each detail in her paintings

with extraordinary precision. Stylised, often Mannerist forms and figures added a decorative quality to

her works. The combination of interesting topics, tradition and modernism as well as the decorativeness - all

very appealing for the public of the time -determined the painter's exceptional popularity. In the mid-1920s,

during the peak of the Art Deco aesthetics, Lempicka began to work her way up. She showed her works in the

salons of Paris and abroad, including Poland.

Her popularity soon translated into financial success.She focused mainly 18).……………………………………..but

she mostly painted nudes. Female aristocrats and the wives of rich industrialists ordered their portraits in large

numbers, often life-size. It was an almost mass production of paintings. At that time Lempicka would every so
often paint for more than 19) twelve hours a day. The art critics, however, didn’t approve her paintings.They

condemned the painter for "corporality verging on kitsch or sin at least". They called her "the propagator of

20).......…......….....…...…...…...….............…". Obviously, this aspect of her painting won her the popularity and

interest among mass publics.

The unquestionable quality of Lempicka's art lay in its ability to adapt interpretations of the surrounding world to

the language of painting created by the artist. Her portraits made up a gallery of contemporary types, the artist's

every-day heroes, including those who were part of the social and cultural elite. Her self-portrait Tamara in the

Green Bugatti from 1929 can be seen as the symbolic image of an 21) emancipated woman of the time. The

times were strongly marked by decadence. Her lifestyle was far removed from the commonly accepted social

norms. Lempicka's did not hide her many love affairs with both men and women, whether true or believed. Her

well-known acquaintance with Gabriel d'Annunzio provoked a terminal crisis which led to divorce in 1927.

Lempicka remarried in 1934 to Baron Roul Kuffner. They left for the United States. In the 1940s Lempicka grew to

be the favourite portrait painter of Hollywood stars, as well as of the social and financial elites. There she also

became famous for her rich and decadent social life. Nevertheless her popularity faded with the radical changes

in post-war art, along with the turn to the Surrealist and abstract tradition. Lempicka's career declined despite the

artist's dramatic attempts to change her style, imitations of Surrealist landscapes and expressionist, textural

abstraction. After the death of her husband in 1962, Tamara Lempicka gave up painting and moved to Mexico

where she died in 22)………………………………

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before
World War I.[1] Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners,
and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners.[2] It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition
internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in
Paris in 1925.[3] It combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented
luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.

Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. From its outset, Art
Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism; the bright colors of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated
craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe I and Louis XVI; and the exotic styles of China and Japan, India, Persia,
ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The
Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Deco style.

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome
plating, stainless steel, and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it featured
curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. [4] Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with
the beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of modernism and the International Style
of architecture that followed.[5]
Student B

Tamara Łempicka (Tamara de Lempicka)

Paninter of Polish descent who figures among the most significant representatives of Art Deco aesthetics. The

aesthetics developed by Lempicka appealed to the tastes of the affluent bourgeoisie of 1) the early 20th century.

Tamara Łempicka was born in Moscow in 2) 1898 and died in Mexico in 3)………………….. Her father, Borys

Gurwik-Gorski was 4)...…………………………………., a merchant or an industrialist, while her mother, Malwina

née Dekler, came from 5) an affluent Polish family. Tamara and her siblings, Adrienne and Stańczyk, were raised

by their mother and the Dekler grandparents 6) in Warsaw. The Deklers were part of the cultural and social elite,

friends of Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Artur Rubinstein, among others.

Her father disappeared from Tamara's life when she was only a few years old and the circumstances of his

leaving remained the artist's painful and deeply hidden secret. She claimed her parents got divorced, but it is

believed that Borys Gorski 7) committed suicide. As an adult Lempicka liked to emphasise that she was Polish.

She probably even forged her birth certificate claiming Warsaw instead of Moscow as her birthplace.

In 1911, Tamara moved to 8)……….….....…...…....……….………. to live with her relatives. There at the Academy

of Fine Arts she took drawing classes, and greatly enjoyed social and cultural life in the evenings. The relatives-

The Stifers took her to 9).………………..…..……., as well as to exclusive concerts and recitals at the 10)
summer residence of the Romanovs. During one of the elite balls Tamara met her husband, Tadeusz Łempicki, a

young lawyer and socialite. Tamara married Łempicki in 11)………………………………………………… and gave

birth to their daughter Maria Krystyna, Tadeusz Łempicki was arrested during the Russian Revolution of 1917.

After he was released they left for Paris in 12) the summer of 1918.

Tamara Lempicka began her studies in Maurice Denis's studio at the Academie Ranson in Paris. He was a 13)..

…...….........…… and ..……..........….teacher. His students mastered 14) the basics of landscape composition

and the mysteries of painting methods. His views on art and his painterly work were of significance to her. Yet it

were the tips given by her next teacher, 15)Andre Lhote, painter, decorator, critic and art theoretician, that proved

essential in Lempicka's work. Lhote was a promoter of modernising salon painting by using the principles of

experimental painting from Impressionist ideas concerning colour up to Cubist constructions of space within

paintings. Lhote's work had nothing in common with the avant-garde explorations then present in painting, and

which in the case of Impressionism, and Cubism in particular, questioned the system of presentation rooted still in

the tradition of the Renaissance. His goal was to work out a compromise, an agreeable form which would flatter

the conservative tastes of the affluent bourgeoisie, while giving the art public a sense that the paintings they

bought were "moving with the times".

Most of all, in Lhote's studio Lempicka learned how to skilfully merge modern forms of illustration with the

great academic tradition, such a Poussin's, David's or Ingres's classic art forms. Her works were marked

by post-cubist stylisation, the forms made of simplified blocks, yet arranged according to the classic

order. Lempicka broadened her interest in art tradition. She was fascinated 16)by the art of the Renaissance and

went to Italy to study the works of the17)……………………; inspired by this art class she decided to use

luminous, clear and vivid colours, finishing each detail in her paintings with extraordinary precision.

Stylised, often Mannerist forms and figures added a decorative quality to her works. The combination of

interesting topics tradition and modernism as well as the decorativeness - all very appealing for the public of the

time -determined the painter's exceptional popularity. In the mid-1920s, during the peak of the Art Deco

aesthetics, Lempicka began to work her way up. She showed her works in the salons of Paris and abroad,

including Poland.

Her popularity soon translated into financial success. TShe focused mainly 18) on portraits and still life but she

mostly painted nudes. Female aristocrats and the wives of rich industrialists ordered their portraits in large

numbers, often life-size. It was an almost mass production of paintings. At that time Lempicka would every so
often paint for more than 19).……………………..a day. The art critics, however, didn’t approve her paintings.

They condemned the painter for "corporality verging on kitsch or sin at least". They called her "the propagator of

20) perverse painting". Obviously, this aspect of her painting won her the popularity and interest among mass

publics.

The unquestionable quality of Lempicka's art lay in its ability to adapt interpretations of the surrounding world to

the language of painting created by the artist. Her portraits made up a gallery of contemporary types, the artist's

every-day heroes, including those who were part of the social and cultural elite. Her self-portrait Tamara in the

Green Bugatti from 1929 can be seen as the symbolic image of an 21).........................................….........….The

times were strongly marked by decadence. Her lifestyle was far removed from the commonly accepted social

norms. Lempicka's did not hide her many love affairs with both men and women, whether true or believed. Her

well-known acquaintance with Gabriel d'Annunzio provoked a terminal crisis which led to divorce in 1927.

Lempicka remarried in 1934 to Baron Roul Kuffner. They left for the United States. In the 1940s Lempicka grew

to be the favourite portrait painter of Hollywood stars, as well as of the social and financial elites. There she also

became famous for her rich and decadent social life. Nevertheless her popularity faded with the radical changes

in post-war art, along with the turn to the Surrealist and abstract tradition. Lempicka's career declined despite the

artist's dramatic attempts to change her style, imitations of Surrealist landscapes and expressionist, textural

abstraction. After the death of her husband in 1962, Tamara Lempicka gave up painting and moved to Mexico

where she died 22) in 1980.

Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before
World War I.[1] Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners,
and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners.[2] It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition
internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in
Paris in 1925.[3] It combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented
luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.

Art Deco was a pastiche of many different styles, sometimes contradictory, united by a desire to be modern. From its outset, Art
Deco was influenced by the bold geometric forms of Cubism; the bright colors of Fauvism and of the Ballets Russes; the updated
craftsmanship of the furniture of the eras of Louis Philippe I and Louis XVI; and the exotic styles of China and Japan, India, Persia,
ancient Egypt and Maya art. It featured rare and expensive materials, such as ebony and ivory, and exquisite craftsmanship. The
Chrysler Building and other skyscrapers of New York built during the 1920s and 1930s are monuments of the Art Deco style.

In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, the Art Deco style became more subdued. New materials arrived, including chrome
plating, stainless steel, and plastic. A sleeker form of the style, called Streamline Moderne, appeared in the 1930s; it featured
curving forms and smooth, polished surfaces. [4] Art Deco is one of the first truly international styles, but its dominance ended with
the beginning of World War II and the rise of the strictly functional and unadorned styles of modernism and the International Style
of architecture that followed.[5]