The World of Tamara:

S otheby’s New York is pleased to present The World of Tamara: A Celebration of Lempicka and Art Deco, a selling exhibition dedicated to the true pioneer and decisive arbiter of Art Deco painting. Tamara de Lempicka’s cosmopolitan portraits are imbued with the opulence and liberated boldness of the années folles: the golden age that overtook Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Rendered in sleek lines, vibrant metallic hues and geometric forms, her artworks came to epitomize the aesthetic of the Machine Age. Lempicka navigated a turbulent and peripatetic life that, despite its obstacles, afforded her remarkable freedom; she embraced her many lovers, her art, and her international pursuits with equal fervor. This exhibition offers a window into Lempicka's world, seamlessly intertwining her arresting portraits with the design, jewelry, photography, and machinery of the period on which she left an indelible mark, and in turn, strongly influenced her oeuvre. This exhibition – coinciding with the Broadway debut of Lempicka: The Musical and in anticipation of the first major US retrospective of her work to open at the de Young Museum in San Francisco this October – represents a significant moment in acknowledging one of the most influential female artists of the early 20th century.