Portrait of the Duchess of La Salle 1925

This is Tamara de Lempicka's portrait of the Duchess of La Salle, made with oil paint. Look at the cool distance in her face; her hand casually shoved in her pocket. I imagine Lempicka, brush in hand, circling her subject, deciding how to portray her. There's such confidence in the hard lines and sleek surfaces. It's like she's building the Duchess out of polished stone, one geometric plane at a time. She’s using paint to create a world of streamlined modernity, which is what Art Deco was all about. I wonder if Lempicka was thinking about the old masters while she painted this, you know, like how they built up form with light and shadow? Except here, it’s all about the sharp angles and the way the light bounces off the Duchess's shiny boots. That was painting back then, a total conversation and exchange of ideas, and it continues to be so. It is an ongoing dialogue across time, inspiring creativity.