Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980, originally born Tamara Rosalia Gurwick-Gorska) was a Polish-born painter with a distinctive and unmistakable Art Deco style — you'll notice that her painting "Young Lady With Gloves" is part of the photo collage illustrating the Art Deco page, in fact.
Born in Poland, Lempicka moved to France in the 20s before fleeing to the United States at the outset of World War 2. She would end her life in Mexico.
While she painted a range of subjects, she is most famous for her portraits of European nobility and other wealthy figures. The men and women featured in her portraits tended to be painted as sharp, angular figures, as her Art Deco style was heavily influenced by Cubism.
Lempicka's somewhat tumultuous personal life (she was bisexual and had numerous affairs with members of the European nobility) has made her interesting to a number of modern writers. A stage play named "Tamara" ran in Los Angeles for about 12 years, a biographical musical named "Lempicka" debuted in 2018 and she was the subject of a 2012 novel by Ellis Avery entitled The Last Nude. Her work has also been the cover art for various editions of Ayn Rand's novels.
