Tamara de Lempicka

Sale: Christie’s, New York, November 3, 1993, lot 204

Acquired at the above sale  

Paris, Galerie du Luxembourg, Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935, 1972, no. 31, illustrated in the catalogue

Rome, Académie de France (Villa Medici) & Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Tamara de Lempicka, Tra eleganza e trasgressione, 1994, no. 34, illustrated in the catalogue

New York, Barry Friedman Ltd., Tamara de Lempicka, 1996, no. 11

Tokyo, Isetan Museum; Hiroshima Museum of Art; Nagoya, Matsuzakaya & Osaka, Daimaru Museum, Tamara de Lempicka, 1997, no. 28

Boulogne-Billancourt, Musées des années 30, Lempicka, 2006-07

Milan, Palazzo Reale, Tamara de Lempicka, 2006, no. 31, illustrated in the catalogue

Vigo, Casa des Artes, Tamara de Lempicka, 2007

Mexico City, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Tamara de Lempicka, 2009, no. 23, illustrated in the catalogue

Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art & Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art, Tamara de Lempicka et son époque, 2010, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue

Rome, Complesso del Vittoriano, Tamara de Lempicka: La Regina del Moderno, 2011, no. 39, illustrated in color in the catalogue

Giancarlo Marmori, Tamara de Lempicka, Milan, 1978, illustrated p. 51

Alain Blondel & Unno Hirohi, Tamara de Lempicka, Tokyo, 1997, no. 28, illustrated p. 74

Alain Blondel, Tamara de Lempicka: Catalogue Raisonné 1921-1979, Lausanne, 1999, no. B.124, illustrated in color p. 211

Very good condition. The canvas is lined with Beva-371 and the tacking edges have been reinforced. Under UV, there are slight areas of retouching, but these are not evident to the naked eye.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The inimitable Manhattan skyline is the subject of this dynamic canvas, painted shortly after Lempicka's arrival in New York in the fall of 1929.  She had travelled across the Atlantic by luxury liner that September, having received a commission from the wealthy Rufus Bush to paint a portrait of his new wife.  Upon her arrival into New York Harbor she was awestruck by the fortress of granite skyscrapers soaring from the cavernous streets and alleyways of lower Manhattan.  The sight was unlike anything she had seen in Europe and would soon become a fundamental component in her art.  The present painting, which is the most refined of the few stand-alone depictions of the skyline itself, is Lempicka's tribute to the city-as-muse. 

Lempicka's trip to New York coincided with the opening of the Carnegie International exhibition in Pittsburgh, where three of her paintings were on view attracting national attention, and also with the catastrophic stock market crash that sent the world reeling into the Great Depression.  The dramatic events that unfolded during these weeks must have heightened the intensity of the artist's first experience of New York City.  Much like the images of photographers Edward Steichen in the 1920s and Berenice Abbott in the 1930s, Lempicka's painting here captures the dramatic grandeur and power-play of the city's architecture - gleaming in moonlight, piercing through fog, towering above the city and casting long shadows.  Lempicka recognized that the image was as inherently powerful as it was modern, and she used it as a backdrop for her portrait of Mrs. Bush and in several other of her best pictures of the era.