Artis Orbis de Lempicka 126746 Auto-Portrait

Tamara de Lempicka from the Artis Orbis Collection by Goebel. 

About Tamara de Lempicka 1898-1980: Auto-portrait has become an icon of an era. It is easily one of Tamara de Lempicka's most recognized works through its reproduction in numberous magazines and books over the decades. The Art Deco version of the liberated woman in her brightly colored car has come to represent the newly discovered freedom of women of the day. 

Portrait of Ira P. (Ira Ponte, Duchess of Valmy) The duchess was a neighbor and close friend of Tamara and her family for many years, until the had a falling out. (This was rumored to have been about Ponte stealing money from Tamara.) It was also believed by Tamara's closest friends and family that Ira Ponte was Tamara's most consistent lover over the years. Young Girl in a Green Dress Portrait of a Young Girl in a Green Dress, is one of Lempicka's most famous paintings. "It can't be argued that the Art Deco spirit expressed itself more naturally through portraiture than through any other kind of painting. The quintessential Art Deco portraitist is undoubtedly Tamara del Lempicka. Fashionable society of the 1920's and 30's is now percieved very largely though her eyes" - Edward Lucie-Smith Adam and Eve. The inspiration for Adam and Eve... "The model walked across the room and picked up an apple from the bowl to satiate her hunger. Tamara says: "Stop! I have an inspiration. I have before me the vision of Adam and Eve. " She says she then went out into the street and nearby saw a policeman on his beat. "He was young, he was handsome. Monsieur, I am an artist and I need a model for my painting. She brought him into the studio and said 'you are Adam, here is your Eve." Part of Barbara Streisand's private collection.