Arts Smarts

I wouldn’t call myself a real art connoisseur but I know the basic tendencies, quintessential artists, that kind of thing. I love going to museums and standing face to face with some of the most famous paintings of our time but (maybe it’s just me) rarely I get the feeling “Wow, now that’s art”. Mostly I’m curious to see them in person and after a while you start liking them and frequently we stand there in a simulated state of awe not because we love what we see but because they are classic, representative, famous or let’s just say it works of art. I’ve never been someone who is easily visually stimulated hence also my preference of plot and dialogue over action and special effects in movies. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about movies, books, music or art, I like to be touched by the emotion or story behind it all. Painting a pretty picture just doesn’t cut it for me.

There is one artist however that I’ve truly admired for a while now and I was even lucky enough to see a brilliant exhibition on her work a few years back in London. I’m talking about Tamara de Lempicka and her glamorous Art Deco paintings. I’m continuously captivated by her sensuous, luscious and unequivocal style. She is a true master at capturing the decadence and seduction of this dazzling era.

Her work was marginalized (she is not considered one of the 20^th century greats) and is now mostly famous due to postcards, calenders,… Still, despite the general opinion, her work is elegant, functional, and ultra modern and in my own personal opinion mesmerizing.

Lempicka’s work which is predominantly situated in the Jazz Age (1918-1929), an age where great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby) and Evelyn Waugh (Vile Bodies) also flourished. She uses bold colours and sharp lines reminiscent of Cubism which add an explosive touch to her work. The initial pezaz is also her way of drawing attention to the dept and humanity in her paintings. Tamara herself was bisexual hence also her preference to glorify the female form.

Personally I am a big fan of the Roaring Twenties’ style, history, literature and icons due to their glamour, sophisticated beauty and abundant intrigue; Lempicka’s paintings just happen to be the embodiment of all this.