This week’s Studio Sunday artist is Tamara de Lempicka. Lempicka was born in Poland and was active as a painter during the 1920s and 30s, during which time she lived in Paris, France. The artist was best known for her highly stylized portraits of upper-class people, created for fashion magazines, and art deco exhibitions.

Lempicka’s studio is certainly in keeping with the art deco aesthetic. I can imagine the artist throwing some great parties in here, if she was so inclined. That said, at first glance, I might not have guessed it was a studio space. It’s so clean and seems furnished for visitors and for “living” just as much as it seems a practical space for work.

Given that Lempicka didn’t work on a particularly large scale, however, this studio may have been an ideal space to create her artworks. That mirrored room divider or column seems like it would have been a great tool for capturing models from unique angles, while the tables and chairs could easily have held sketches or copies of magazines that the artist could use as inspiration.

Lempicka was known as much for her art as for her jet-setting, social-butterfly lifestyle, and this studio certainly seems to reflect that aspect of the artist’s life. Many of the artist’s works were portraits commissioned by high-society friends, and one of her most famous works is a stylized self-portrait in which Lempicka is pictured driving an expensive sports car. Lempicka moved to Cuernavca, Mexico in 1974. She passed away in 1979, and her work has enjoyed some popularity following renewed public interest in the art deco style.

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