The beautiful Rafaela

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The beautiful Rafaela
Tamara de Lempicka , 1927
Oil on canvas
65 × 92 cm
Private collection

Link to the picture
(please note copyrights )

The beautiful Rafaela (original title: La belle Rafaëla ) is one of the most famous nudes by the Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka . The picture from 1927, which is now in a private collection, was painted in oil on canvas and measures 65 × 92 cm.

description

The picture shows a lying nude representation of a woman on a couch or a bed. The lying figure extends from the lower left to the upper right corner of the picture and accordingly occupies it almost completely. The upper body of the recumbent lies in the supine position, while the hips and legs lie on the side on the left and present the front of the abdomen to the viewer. The head with the dark hair is also on the left side, the eyes are closed and the slightly open mouth is brightly red. The left arm is bent and raised above the head, while the right arm is bent sharply, holding a red cloth with the right hand above the right breast and lightly touching the chest with the fingertips. This cloth also covers the feet of the model and is otherwise hidden behind the body.

Due to the lighting that shines on the model from the left edge of the picture and thus from above and behind, the front area of ​​the abdomen, the left leg and the left side of the upper body are in the shade while the right leg, the right hip, the abdomen and breasts as well as the right half of the face and the inside of the left arm are illuminated.

The sitter is lying on a brown couch that is on a red carpet, the background is black. The painting is signed on the upper right with T. DE LEMPICKA .

The portrayed

The woman portrayed, known only as Rafaela, met Tamara de Lempicka by chance in the Bois de Boulogne in 1927, according to her daughter Kizette de Lempicka-Foxhall . She noticed her because of her beauty and de Lempicka asked her if she would like to sit her model. Stefanie Penck suspects that Rafaela was a prostitute .

Rafaela was the model for several pictures by de Lempicka, including the pictures The beautiful Rafaela and The beautiful Rafaela in green as well as The dream and the pink tunic .

interpretation

The beautiful Rafaela is interpreted as a representation of a narcissistic and self-confident pose of a naked woman, whereby the lush body shapes are clearly shown in the foreground. The body is sharply outlined by the dark background and the shadows as well as the cloth ( Chiaroscuro ), creating a connection to the painting of Caravaggio and his school.

The only color accents are the red of the lips, the cloth and the surface that shine towards the viewer, but the genital area remains completely hidden in the shade under the brightly lit thigh. De Lempicka did without decorative details such as pubic hair or the vulva itself.

Provenance

The painting was sold directly to a Mr. Baudry in 1927 and was in his possession in France until 1967. In that year it was bought by the Galerie du Luxembourg and in 1975 became the property of a French collector. The painting has been privately owned in the United States since 1985.

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Stefanie Penck: Tamara de Lempicka. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2004, pp. 46–47, ISBN 3-7913-3170-1
  2. ↑ a b Image description in the digital works catalog  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.en.lempickacatalogue.com   by Alain Blondel (English).
  3. ↑ Ingried Brugger: The silence and the frenzy of the body. In: Kunstforum Wien, Royal Academy of Arts London (ed.): Tamara de Lempicka. Art Deco femme fatale. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit 2004, ISBN 3-7757-1434-0 .

literature

  • Gilles Néret: Tamara de Lempicka 1898–1980. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-8228-6593-1
  • Stefanie Penck: Tamara de Lempicka. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2004, pp. 46–47, ISBN 3-7913-3170-1

Web links