Tamara de Lempicka

Kizette de Lempicka-Foxhall, Houston (by descent from the artist)
Sale: Christie's, New York, November 14, 1996, lot 196
Acquired at the above sale

(probably) Los Angeles, Julien Levy Gallery, Tamara de Lempicka, 1941, no. 9 (titled Nature morte I)
(probably) Milwaukee, Milwaukee Art Center, Tamara de Lempicka (Baroness Kuffner), 1942, no. 15 (titled Nature morte I)
Paris, Galerie Ror-Volmar & New York, Iolas Gallery, T. de Lempicka, Oeuvres récentes et anciennes, 1930-1960, 1961, n.n.
Tokyo & Osaka, Seibu Gallery, Tamara de Lempicka, 1981, n.n.

Germain Bazin & Akiko Ishioka, Tamara de Lempicka, Le Mythe du portrait, Toyko, 1980, no. 80, illustrated n.p.
Alain Blondel, Lempicka, Catalogue Raisonné 1921-1979, Lausanne, 1999, no. B229, illustrated in color p. 317

Canvas is not lined. There is some frame abrasion at extreme left and right edges which is covered by the frame. Under UV light some strokes of inpainting are visible at extreme left edge to address prior frame abrasion. A few strokes of inpainting 1/2 inch above the lip of the goblet at left and some scattered pindots at extreme right edge, in the fabric of the patterned cloth, in the coral at right and one or two pindots in the shells at center. An older generation of retouching is visible at top and bottom edges. Good condition.
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.
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The present work is an exquisite example of the still-lifes that Lempicka began to paint in the later stages of her career. Completed shortly after the artist’s arrival in New York City, the present painting exhibits the kind of sensual potency that is prevalent in her oeuvre. Born into a prominent upper-class family of Polish descent, Lempicka was known for her glamorous yet scandalous and quasi-bohemian lifestyle, often famously engaging in sexual conduct with both men and women, and imbuing her art with a sense of fluid sensuality and opulence. In the present picture, the artist cleverly transforms an ordinary seashell into a potent symbol of feminine fertility. Ingried Brugger writes of Lempicka’s sexually charged imagery: “Although De Lempicka painted relatively few still-lifes, a number include arum lilies. Like the blooms opening in the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, they symbolize the female sexual organ, a vision of the female sex that recalls the precepts of Surrealist painting and the ‘effect of distant realities’... The female body occupies a central position in De Lempicka’s work, be it nude or semi-nude, elaborately clad or indecently casually dressed, or in the guise of a symbol. These images reflect not only the artist’s personal thematic interest but are also part of the history of the emancipation of art produced by women” (Ingried Brugger, “Sang-froid and Frenzy” in Tamara de Lempicka, Art Deco Icon, London, 2004, p. 42).

Lempicka’s trademark Art Deco style permeates Le Coquillage. The themes of desire and seduction are eloquently portrayed in clean, clearly defined lines and bold colors. The artist’s smooth painterly technique gives the work a metallic quality that invites the viewer’s gaze yet enigmatically rejects connection on any level. As Ingrid Brugger further elaborates, “In the decorative through-composition of the picture plane that characterizes her work, with its mannered vocabulary forms, abbreviated details, ornamental lines and accentuated plasticity, De Lempicka does at times replicate Art Deco elements in her paintings. The movement’s hybrid aesthetic had been on abundant display in 1925 in Paris at the exhibition that was later to give the style its name, the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs Industriels Modernes. Rejected by the avant-garde as the epitome of bourgeois taste and commercialism, Art Deco influenced the look of a whole epoch, from works of art down to the simplest everyday objects.. Inscribed with the cool demeanor that typified that time, [De Lempicka’s paintings] keep the viewer at a distance and yet have immense presence. They are immediately recognizable with their mixture of all-pervasive sensuality and manipulated forms” (ibid., p. 39).