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Lot Essay
Portrait du Docteur Boucard depicts the pioneering medical scientist Pierre Boucard, who, in addition to his groundbreaking bacteriological findings, was an important art collector and a key patron of Tamara de Lempicka. Illuminated by a bold shaft of light, the doctor dynamically turns into the brightness, one hand resting on his microscope while the other clasps a glass test tube. The chiaroscuro effect of the light, combined with the steely Cubist-style backdrop, adds to the pulsing sense of tension that radiates from the work, and the portrait acts as a celebration of scientific advancement and achievement.
A passionate collector of modern art, Boucard already owned several paintings by Lempicka, and when he met the artist in 1927 she was reaching new heights of international admiration. His great scientific discovery had come at the start of the Twentieth Century, for, in 1907, he had invented the probiotic pharmaceutical Lactéol. His success enabled him to pursue his interest in art, and, in the late 1920s, he commissioned the artist to paint a series of portraits of his family. Lempicka began the series in 1928 with a painting of the doctor’s daughter, Portrait d’Arlette Boucard. The adolescent Arlette reclines before a backdrop of Cannes harbour, where, amid the moored boats, her father’s yacht can be glimpsed – named ‘Lactéol’ after his great discovery.
An aristocrat-émigrée, Lempicka settled in Paris in 1918, having fled Russia with her husband and infant daughter following the revolution. Freshly in her twenties, she resumed the art studies she had left behind in St Petersburg, and enrolled at Paris’ prestigious art académies, where she trained under the great artists of the day. Lempicka received tutelage from Maurice Denis before meeting André Lhote, whose Cubist style would inspire and influence the artist throughout her oeuvre. She swiftly rose to acclaim, and her works were exhibited in the Paris salons from 1922 onwards. After her 1925 solo exhibition in Milan at the Bottega di Poesia her career accelerated, and it was her portraiture that attracted the most applause. The gallery’s director, Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco, introduced her to Milan’s high society, who instantly began commissioning portraits from the talented young artist, and she was in such high demand that she had to return to the city the following year to complete the commissions.
Through the support of Boucard in the late 1920s, Lempicka was able to set up a state-of-the-art studio in Paris, a turning-point in her career. The geometric chrome and glass building on the Rue Méchain was designed by the leading modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Lempicka’s sister Adrienne, also an architect, was enlisted to finalise the interior. The scholar Tag Gronberg has noted that Lempicka’s acquisition of such a stylish studio-house was not only reflective of her painterly success, but also revealed her ambition to consolidate her public image as a modern artist. The professional, personal, and social were inextricably intertwined for Lempicka, who, ever the chic hostess and high society darling, used the atelier as more than just a space to live and work; it was a place to exhibit her works during glamorous gatherings and cocktail parties. A 1931 article published in the journal Mobilier et décoration sang the praises of the artist’s Rue Méchain abode and its exceptional modernity. The accompanying photographs showed Lempicka’s acclaimed Portrait de Madame Boucard on an easel, beside Arlette Boucard aux arums, a second painting featuring Boucard’s daughter, both of which were executed in 1931.
All these qualities enhanced her reputation as the most visible female artist to emerge during les années folles, the post-Great War, pre-Depression era of conspicuous extravagance and indulgent hedonism. In this golden epoch of her career, Lempicka welcomed media attention, stylishly posing for well-known photographers, as well as inviting them to photograph her homes and studios. Renowned for her glamour, the artist was occasionally mistaken for the Hollywood starlet Greta Garbo. In 1928, prior to her relocation to Rue Méchain, the fashion and society photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue had taken pictures of her luxurious apartment on Rue Guy de Maupassant. Boucard was Lartigue’s brother-in-law, and the doctor features in many of Lartigue’s photographs from this time. One particular photograph of Lempicka’s Rue Guy de Maupassant atelier-residence shows the present Portrait du Docteur Boucard in progress, allowing us a glimpse at the artist’s creative process. Lempicka initially sketched the composition in charcoal, before using oil paints to finalise the work in her signature smooth and glossy style.
In many ways, the late 1920s marks the zenith of Lempicka’s portraiture, and the Boucard family series is considered exemplary of the artist’s style and ability at this period. The art historian German Bazin declared Lempicka to be one of history’s great portraitists, thanks to her ability to entwine the individual’s likeness with the ‘social type that attaches [them] to the period at which [they] lived’ (quoted in A. Blondel, ‘Tamara de Lempicka: An Introduction,’ in Tamara de Lempicka: Art Deco Icon, exh. cat., The Royal Academy of Art, London, 2004, p. 19). In this most cinematic portrait, Boucard’s scientific prowess is instantly highlighted by the inclusion of his microscope and glass test tube. At first glance his attire appears to be a formal laboratory coat, as befitting a man of his profession, yet, upon closer inspection, it is in fact a stylish white trench coat, transforming the subject from scientist to detective; from Boucard to Bogart. Alain Blondel has stated that the combination of this coat, worn with the collar fashionably upturned, along with the gleaming pearl on his emerald tie and his narrow moustache, portrays Boucard as not just a bio-chemist, but also as ‘a man of the world’ (quoted in ibid., p. 20). Within her oeuvre, Lempicka’s portraits of men were less common, though no less admired by her contemporaries. Critic Magdeleine Dayot wrote of Lempicka, ‘her many portraits vibrate with remarkable life. In the portrait of Dr Pierre Boucard, and the portrait of M. de Montaut, for example, the psychology of modern man is analysed with unusual subtlety’ (‘Tamara de Lempicka,’ in L’Art et les artistes, vol. 156, April 1935; quoted in ibid., p. 22).
It was Lempicka’s elegant style that distinguished her as the time’s premiére portraitist in demand among both wealthy Europeans and Americans. Although accoladed for her trailblazing modernity, Lempicka acknowledged the inspiration her artistic predecessors sparked in her. As a teenager, her grandmother had taken her on a glittering tour of Italy, and it was there that she ‘took in the treasures of the Italian old masters, from the Quattrocento, the Renaissance, and I think that my love of painting and my desire to become a painter were born’ (Lempicka, quoted in A. Blondel, Tamara de Lempicka, Lausanne, 1999, p. 22). In the present work, Lempicka embraced the Mannerist ideal of figura serpentinata, whereby the figure’s form rotates around a central axis, skilfully conjuring a kind of dynamism through Boucard’s twisting pose.
The essences of later movements were threaded through Lempicka’s oeuvre too – as Georges Remon noted, ‘the Cubists, André Lhote, Maurice Denis, Ingres as seen by Picasso, this is the roll-call of influences that have guided her art and the painter does not deny it’ (‘Architectures modernes: L’Atelier de Mme de Lempicka,’ in Mobilier et décoration, vol. 9, January 1931; quoted in exh. cat., op. cit., 2004, p. 17). Her paintings conjure a neo-classical quality too, relayed by her depictions of form, and her soft, imperceptible brushstrokes, yet the aesthetic of the Machine Age, and the excitement of technological advances and of Hollywood’s silver screen radiate from her work. It was through her harmonisation of classical techniques and subjects with the extreme modernism of the world around her, that she cultivated her renowned style. Reflecting on her work and career, Lempicka declared ‘I was the first woman who did clear painting – and that was the success of my painting… among a hundred paintings, you could recognise mine. And the galleries began to put me in the best rooms, always in the centre, because my painting attracted people’ (quoted in K. de Lempicka-Foxhall & C. Phillips, Passion by Design, The Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka, Oxford, 1987, p. 53).
A passionate collector of modern art, Boucard already owned several paintings by Lempicka, and when he met the artist in 1927 she was reaching new heights of international admiration. His great scientific discovery had come at the start of the Twentieth Century, for, in 1907, he had invented the probiotic pharmaceutical Lactéol. His success enabled him to pursue his interest in art, and, in the late 1920s, he commissioned the artist to paint a series of portraits of his family. Lempicka began the series in 1928 with a painting of the doctor’s daughter, Portrait d’Arlette Boucard. The adolescent Arlette reclines before a backdrop of Cannes harbour, where, amid the moored boats, her father’s yacht can be glimpsed – named ‘Lactéol’ after his great discovery.
An aristocrat-émigrée, Lempicka settled in Paris in 1918, having fled Russia with her husband and infant daughter following the revolution. Freshly in her twenties, she resumed the art studies she had left behind in St Petersburg, and enrolled at Paris’ prestigious art académies, where she trained under the great artists of the day. Lempicka received tutelage from Maurice Denis before meeting André Lhote, whose Cubist style would inspire and influence the artist throughout her oeuvre. She swiftly rose to acclaim, and her works were exhibited in the Paris salons from 1922 onwards. After her 1925 solo exhibition in Milan at the Bottega di Poesia her career accelerated, and it was her portraiture that attracted the most applause. The gallery’s director, Count Emmanuele di Castelbarco, introduced her to Milan’s high society, who instantly began commissioning portraits from the talented young artist, and she was in such high demand that she had to return to the city the following year to complete the commissions.
Through the support of Boucard in the late 1920s, Lempicka was able to set up a state-of-the-art studio in Paris, a turning-point in her career. The geometric chrome and glass building on the Rue Méchain was designed by the leading modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens, and Lempicka’s sister Adrienne, also an architect, was enlisted to finalise the interior. The scholar Tag Gronberg has noted that Lempicka’s acquisition of such a stylish studio-house was not only reflective of her painterly success, but also revealed her ambition to consolidate her public image as a modern artist. The professional, personal, and social were inextricably intertwined for Lempicka, who, ever the chic hostess and high society darling, used the atelier as more than just a space to live and work; it was a place to exhibit her works during glamorous gatherings and cocktail parties. A 1931 article published in the journal Mobilier et décoration sang the praises of the artist’s Rue Méchain abode and its exceptional modernity. The accompanying photographs showed Lempicka’s acclaimed Portrait de Madame Boucard on an easel, beside Arlette Boucard aux arums, a second painting featuring Boucard’s daughter, both of which were executed in 1931.
All these qualities enhanced her reputation as the most visible female artist to emerge during les années folles, the post-Great War, pre-Depression era of conspicuous extravagance and indulgent hedonism. In this golden epoch of her career, Lempicka welcomed media attention, stylishly posing for well-known photographers, as well as inviting them to photograph her homes and studios. Renowned for her glamour, the artist was occasionally mistaken for the Hollywood starlet Greta Garbo. In 1928, prior to her relocation to Rue Méchain, the fashion and society photographer Jacques-Henri Lartigue had taken pictures of her luxurious apartment on Rue Guy de Maupassant. Boucard was Lartigue’s brother-in-law, and the doctor features in many of Lartigue’s photographs from this time. One particular photograph of Lempicka’s Rue Guy de Maupassant atelier-residence shows the present Portrait du Docteur Boucard in progress, allowing us a glimpse at the artist’s creative process. Lempicka initially sketched the composition in charcoal, before using oil paints to finalise the work in her signature smooth and glossy style.
In many ways, the late 1920s marks the zenith of Lempicka’s portraiture, and the Boucard family series is considered exemplary of the artist’s style and ability at this period. The art historian German Bazin declared Lempicka to be one of history’s great portraitists, thanks to her ability to entwine the individual’s likeness with the ‘social type that attaches [them] to the period at which [they] lived’ (quoted in A. Blondel, ‘Tamara de Lempicka: An Introduction,’ in Tamara de Lempicka: Art Deco Icon, exh. cat., The Royal Academy of Art, London, 2004, p. 19). In this most cinematic portrait, Boucard’s scientific prowess is instantly highlighted by the inclusion of his microscope and glass test tube. At first glance his attire appears to be a formal laboratory coat, as befitting a man of his profession, yet, upon closer inspection, it is in fact a stylish white trench coat, transforming the subject from scientist to detective; from Boucard to Bogart. Alain Blondel has stated that the combination of this coat, worn with the collar fashionably upturned, along with the gleaming pearl on his emerald tie and his narrow moustache, portrays Boucard as not just a bio-chemist, but also as ‘a man of the world’ (quoted in ibid., p. 20). Within her oeuvre, Lempicka’s portraits of men were less common, though no less admired by her contemporaries. Critic Magdeleine Dayot wrote of Lempicka, ‘her many portraits vibrate with remarkable life. In the portrait of Dr Pierre Boucard, and the portrait of M. de Montaut, for example, the psychology of modern man is analysed with unusual subtlety’ (‘Tamara de Lempicka,’ in L’Art et les artistes, vol. 156, April 1935; quoted in ibid., p. 22).
It was Lempicka’s elegant style that distinguished her as the time’s premiére portraitist in demand among both wealthy Europeans and Americans. Although accoladed for her trailblazing modernity, Lempicka acknowledged the inspiration her artistic predecessors sparked in her. As a teenager, her grandmother had taken her on a glittering tour of Italy, and it was there that she ‘took in the treasures of the Italian old masters, from the Quattrocento, the Renaissance, and I think that my love of painting and my desire to become a painter were born’ (Lempicka, quoted in A. Blondel, Tamara de Lempicka, Lausanne, 1999, p. 22). In the present work, Lempicka embraced the Mannerist ideal of figura serpentinata, whereby the figure’s form rotates around a central axis, skilfully conjuring a kind of dynamism through Boucard’s twisting pose.
The essences of later movements were threaded through Lempicka’s oeuvre too – as Georges Remon noted, ‘the Cubists, André Lhote, Maurice Denis, Ingres as seen by Picasso, this is the roll-call of influences that have guided her art and the painter does not deny it’ (‘Architectures modernes: L’Atelier de Mme de Lempicka,’ in Mobilier et décoration, vol. 9, January 1931; quoted in exh. cat., op. cit., 2004, p. 17). Her paintings conjure a neo-classical quality too, relayed by her depictions of form, and her soft, imperceptible brushstrokes, yet the aesthetic of the Machine Age, and the excitement of technological advances and of Hollywood’s silver screen radiate from her work. It was through her harmonisation of classical techniques and subjects with the extreme modernism of the world around her, that she cultivated her renowned style. Reflecting on her work and career, Lempicka declared ‘I was the first woman who did clear painting – and that was the success of my painting… among a hundred paintings, you could recognise mine. And the galleries began to put me in the best rooms, always in the centre, because my painting attracted people’ (quoted in K. de Lempicka-Foxhall & C. Phillips, Passion by Design, The Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka, Oxford, 1987, p. 53).