Passion by Design

As F. Scott Fitzgerald portrayed the mad glories of the 1920s on the printed page, Tamara de Lempicka (1898–1980) captured them on canvas. A seductive Garbo-esque beauty with an irresistible force of personality, this refugee of the Russian Revolution successively conquered Paris, Hollywood, and New York with coruscating portraits of the world’s rich and famous. Her Art Deco paintings earned for her a life more fabulously excessive than anything Fitzgerald dreamed of. Passion by Design, authored by Tamara de Lempicka’s own daughter, is an intimate look at a fascinating personality, and remains the best account of her life and work. This new edition is illustrated with vibrant color reproductions of her finest paintings, as well as exclusive photographs from family albums. A new introduction by Marisa de Lempicka, the artist’s great-granddaughter, explores the ever-evolving legacy of Tamara de Lempicka, from the record eight-figure price fetched by her painting Portrait de Marjorie Ferry in February 2020 (smashing her previous record set just a few months previous for La Tunique rose)  to the new musical based on her life.