Details
'ADAM ET EVE'
BY TAMARA DE LEMPICKA (1898-1980)
Signed bottom right DE LEMPICKA, oil on panel--45in. x 28 3/4in. (116cm. x 73cm.)
Painted in 1932
PROVENANCE
Galerie du Luxembourg, Paris
Musee du Petit Palais, Geneva
Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1984
EXHIBITED
Paris, Salon des Independants, 1932
Paris, Galerie du Luxembourg, Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935, June-July, 1972
Tokyo, Parco, Tamara de Lempicka, 1980, no. 59 (illustrated in color)
LITERATURE
Revue des Vivants, France, 1933
Paris Midi, Paris, August, 1937
Le Petit Marseillais, France, September, 1937
ed. Morris Cotta, Spectacle du monde,Paris, March, 1978
ed. O. S. Figueroa, Morelos Diarios, Mexico, June 18, 1978
Tamara de Lempicka, Paris, 1978
Baroness K. de Lempicka, Passion by Design, the art and times of Tamara de Lempicka, New York, 1987, no. 83 (illustrated)
The leading female exponent of the Art Deco style of painting during the 1920s and 1930s in France, Tamara de Lempicka was as strong-minded and independent as the female figures she depicted in her painters in Europe.
Tamara de Lempicka recounts the story of how she was inspired to paint Adam and Eve in her autobiography, Passion by Design. In 1932, she was working on a nude painting in her studio with a professional model she often employed. The model had held her pose for some time and asked for a break. Claiming she was famished, the model asked if she could have some of the fruits from the basket in the corner.
when Lempicka agreed, she walked across the room, and took an apple from the bowl. While she was standing there, something caught her attention and she suddenly stopped with the apple held near her shoulder.
"I had an inspiration", Lempicka said, "I called quickly: 'Stop, you must hold that pose exactly as it is. Do not move", and I sketched furiously. I knew that in that moment what I saw was Eve, and I must find my Adam.
"When I finished the sketch, I went into the streets. This was the artists' quarter. I had before me the vision of the Adam and Eve. In the street nearby I saw a gendarme, a policeman on his beat. He was young, he was handsome. I said to him, 'Monsieur I am an artist and I need a model for my painting. Would you pose for me?' and he said, 'Of course Madame. I am myself an artist. At what time do you require me?' We made arrangements. He came to my studio after work and said: 'How shall I pose?' 'In the nude'. He took of his things and folded them neatly on the chair, placing his big revolver on the top. I set him on the podium and then called my model. 'You are Adam, and here is your Eve,' I said."
BY TAMARA DE LEMPICKA (1898-1980)
Signed bottom right DE LEMPICKA, oil on panel--45in. x 28 3/4in. (116cm. x 73cm.)
Painted in 1932
PROVENANCE
Galerie du Luxembourg, Paris
Musee du Petit Palais, Geneva
Barry Friedman, Ltd., New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1984
EXHIBITED
Paris, Salon des Independants, 1932
Paris, Galerie du Luxembourg, Tamara de Lempicka de 1925 à 1935, June-July, 1972
Tokyo, Parco, Tamara de Lempicka, 1980, no. 59 (illustrated in color)
LITERATURE
Revue des Vivants, France, 1933
Paris Midi, Paris, August, 1937
Le Petit Marseillais, France, September, 1937
ed. Morris Cotta, Spectacle du monde,Paris, March, 1978
ed. O. S. Figueroa, Morelos Diarios, Mexico, June 18, 1978
Tamara de Lempicka, Paris, 1978
Baroness K. de Lempicka, Passion by Design, the art and times of Tamara de Lempicka, New York, 1987, no. 83 (illustrated)
The leading female exponent of the Art Deco style of painting during the 1920s and 1930s in France, Tamara de Lempicka was as strong-minded and independent as the female figures she depicted in her painters in Europe.
Tamara de Lempicka recounts the story of how she was inspired to paint Adam and Eve in her autobiography, Passion by Design. In 1932, she was working on a nude painting in her studio with a professional model she often employed. The model had held her pose for some time and asked for a break. Claiming she was famished, the model asked if she could have some of the fruits from the basket in the corner.
when Lempicka agreed, she walked across the room, and took an apple from the bowl. While she was standing there, something caught her attention and she suddenly stopped with the apple held near her shoulder.
"I had an inspiration", Lempicka said, "I called quickly: 'Stop, you must hold that pose exactly as it is. Do not move", and I sketched furiously. I knew that in that moment what I saw was Eve, and I must find my Adam.
"When I finished the sketch, I went into the streets. This was the artists' quarter. I had before me the vision of the Adam and Eve. In the street nearby I saw a gendarme, a policeman on his beat. He was young, he was handsome. I said to him, 'Monsieur I am an artist and I need a model for my painting. Would you pose for me?' and he said, 'Of course Madame. I am myself an artist. At what time do you require me?' We made arrangements. He came to my studio after work and said: 'How shall I pose?' 'In the nude'. He took of his things and folded them neatly on the chair, placing his big revolver on the top. I set him on the podium and then called my model. 'You are Adam, and here is your Eve,' I said."