Ruby Lou

A small deviation from my usual subjects of fashion and lingerie....to Art!

I was in Rome over Easter and managed to catch a few art exhibitions, my favourite of them being the Tamara de Lempicka exhibition which is still showing at the Vittoriano Complex until July this year; it is well worth seeing. I love the work of this artist as she epitomized the period of Art Deco, which is possibly my favourite era. I love the fashion, the art and the design from this period of time and Tamara's paintings were just beautiful.

She was born Maria Gorska in 1898 in Poland to a wealthy and prominent family before moving to Russia to live with an aunt following the divorce of her parents. She travelled often to Western Europe, also attending school in Switzerland, and visited the French Riviera and Italy where she discovered a love of the greatest Italian painters. She escaped the Russian Revolution in 1917 by travelling through Denmark and England before finally settling in Paris.

She enjoyed huge success in Europe after having many exhibitions around Europe, mainly Italy, Germany and France, and she lived the high life in Paris as a result of her success, living a Bohemian lifestyle and having an array of affairs. In the early 1940's she emigrated to America where she stayed until moving to Mexico in the late 1970's where she died.

Portrait of Madame Allan Bott - Date unknown
This painting is significant also for the background as Tamara de Lempicka embraced modernism and she often featured steel skyscrapers in her work.

Portrait of Madame M - 1933
Tamara was well known for her choice of colours and often played with the contrast of a bright colour against a grey background (of skyscrapers for example!) She was so fond of using the particular shade of blue as she used in this painting that it was nicknamed 'Lempicka Blue' at the time.

Girl in a Green Dress - 1930
Another painting with Tamara's love for the contrast of greys and brights, green this time. Note the skyscraper-esque background again.

The Telephone - 1930
Again, this painting, even with the title, shows Tamara's love of everything modern. As well as skyscrapers, she often featured technological advances in her work such as telephones and motor cars.

And a little closer back to my love of lingerie....
One evening, again still in Rome, we discovered a club called The Micca Club which often features a Burlesque show. The evening in question was an end of season show - well, we couldn't pass that up, could we? And we didn't, as you can see below....