''Autoportrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti)'' is a

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

by the Polish artist Tamara de Lempicka, which she painted in Paris in 1928. It was commissioned by the German fashion magazine ''

Die Dame ''Die Dame'' (English: The Lady) was the first illustrated magazine in Germany to cater to the interests of modern women. It was also considered the "best journal of its kind in the world market" after the First World War. The lifestyle magazine ...

'' for the cover of the magazine, to celebrate the independence of women. It is one of the best-known examples of Art Deco portrait painting.

Description

In 1928, De Lempicka was commissioned to make a self-portrait for the cover of the German fashion magazine ''Die Dame''. The painting she produced showed her at the wheel of a

Bugatti Automobiles Ettore Bugatti was a German then French manufacturer of high-performance automobiles. The company was founded in 1909 in the then-German city of Molsheim, Alsace, by the Italian-born industrial designer Ettore Bugatti. The cars w ...

racing car, wearing a leather helmet and gloves and wrapped in a gray scarf. She portrayed herself as a personification of cold beauty, independence, wealth and inaccessibility. In fact she did not own a Bugatti automobile; her own car was a small yellow Renault, which was stolen one night when she and her friends were celebrating at Café de la Rotonde in Montparnasse. Bugatti 43 Cockpit

Although De Lempicka's portrait shows the steering wheel on the left side of the car, the Bugatti models 23, 43 and 46 of that period actually had the steering wheel on the right side.

Influences

De Lempicka developed her painting skills among the avant-garde art and literature movements of Neo-

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

, and Art Deco of the " Lost Generation". She studied at the

Académie Ranson The Académie Ranson was founded in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Julian, in 1908.

under Maurice Denis, although she only credited him for her draftsmanship skills. One of her main influences was the Neo-cubist

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

(professor to De Lempicka at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière). A possible influence for this particular picture might have been by André Kertész, who was living in Paris in the 1920s and whose 1927 photo has a very similar composition.

Patron

The female editor of ''Die Dame'', a popular German fashion magazine, encountered De Lempicka in Monte Carlo while the almost-divorced baroness was on vacation and commissioned her to paint a self-portrait for an upcoming cover. De Lempicka replaced her yellow Renault with a green Bugatti because she believed that a green Bugatti appeared more elite and more beautiful.Kizette De Lempicka-Foxhall and Charles Phillips, Passion by Design: The Art and Times of Tamara De Lempicka, 77.

Citations

References

* Birnbaum, Paula. ''Tamara De Lempicka: The Modern Woman Personified''. 2012. ISSN 2391-7911 * . * . * . * . * . * {{DEFAULTSORT:Autoportrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti) 1929 paintings Self-portraits Paintings by Tamara de Lempicka Paintings in Switzerland Portraits of women