Tamara de Lempicka, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. April 27, 2005.
De Lempicka is one of my favorite artists, which I realized after seeing one of her works in the Blanton in Austin. Her Art Deco style is infused with boldness and sexuality. I couldn’t have told you for certain she was queer until I saw this exhibit with all its female nudes lined up, but it was no surprise. I also learned that de Lempicka retired to my hometown. In fact, I knew almost nothing about her history until this exhibit, which explained a lot about her personal and artistic origins.
The exhibit brought together a wide variety of her paintings from her active period and contextualized it with Art Deco furnishings, fashion, and photographs. In addition to the art and artifacts, there was also a short film featuring de Lempicka’s family members explaining some of her history, and an additional slideshow demonstrating her influences from Mannerism to Cubism in individual works. It was the kind of exhibit that makes me appreciate a strong practical grounding in art history.
Overall I was educated and delighted, and as always pleased to see a woman artist getting her due as a major influence in a period where she’s been overlooked. I purchased the exhibition catalog, though I haven’t had time to crack it yet, and am looking forward to further acquainting myself with de Lempicka’s work and life.
The exhibit was on the second floor of the Law Building, which is the Mies van der Rohe addition to the original neoclassical museum; it’s been here since my childhood. The mezzanine exhibit space has the Pavia Tapestry exhibit, which we saw at the Kimbell last year and briefly enjoyed here. We missed the exhibits at the (new) Beck Building and the new(er) Kinder Building though I hope to be back before the British Landscape exhibit closes in July. I was excited enough that I bought a membership to the museum to remind myself to come back to Houston more often.