Her Sadness

Artist Tamara de Lempicka(Polish, 1894–1980)Polish, 1894–1980

CulturePolish

Titles

Her Sadness
Sa tristesse

Date1923

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 45 1/16 × 28 3/4 in. (114.5 × 73 cm)
Frame (outer): 56 5/8 × 39 15/16 × 3 1/8 in. (143.8 × 101.5 × 8 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment

Object number2026.70

Current Location

The Nancy and Rich Kinder Building

Gallery 203

On view

Explore Further

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Object Type

PAINTING

ProvenanceThe artist; given to Judith Wertheim Bookman, c. 1942–43, New York; Carol Bookman Salvadori, by descent, 1980; Michael Kazin and Beth Horowitz, Washington, D.C., by descent, 2006; purchased by MFAH, 2026.
Exhibition HistorySalon des Independents, Paris, February 20–March 10, 1923.

Tamara de Lempicka, Milan: Bottega di Poesia, 1925

Salon d’Automne, Paris, March 20–May 2, 1926? (illustrated in Świat review, but not documented by Salon catalogue or other resources)

Tamara de Lempicka, The Queen of Modern, Rome: Complesso de Vittoriano, March 11–July 10, 2011.

Tamara de Lempicka, La Reine de l’Art Deco, Paris: Pinacothèque de Paris, April 18–September 8, 2013.

Tamara de Lempicka, Reina del Art Déco, Madrid: Palacio de Gaviria, October 5, 2018–February 24, 2019.

Tamara de Lempicka, San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, October 12, 2024–February 9, 2025; Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, March 9–July 6, 2025; Naples, Florida: Baker Museum/Artis-Naples, October 25, 2025–February 8, 2026.
Published References Desage, “Les envois de Mme Sempitzky au Indépendents,” Arlequin (January 15, 1924), illustrated as “Portrait d’Ira Verte, par Mme Sempitzky” [pseudonyms for Ira Perrot and Tamara de Lempicka]. De Lempicka, Kizette, Passion by Design: Tamara de Lempicka. New York: Abbeville Press, 1986, ills. p. 48. Mori, Gioia, Tamara de Lempicka: Paris 1920 – 1938. Florence: Giunti, 1994, cat. 15, illus. p. 114. Mori, Gioa, Michele Abate, Julia Weiss et al. Tamara de Lempicka: The Queen of Modern. Milan: Skira, 2011, cat. 13, illus. frontispiece (detail), pp. 136–37. Mori, Gioia and Furio Rinaldi, with Alison de Lima Greene and Laura L. Camerlengo, Tamara de Lempicka. San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 2024, cat. 30, illus. p.88. Reboul, J. Tamara de Lempicka, Milan: Bottega di Poesia, 1925, p. 12, no. 1. Thormann, Ellen, Tamara de Lempicka: Kunstkritik un Küsterlerinnen in Paris. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1993, no. 3. Woroniecki, E., “Paryski Salon Jesienny w 1926 roku,” Świat 50 (December 11, 1926): 6–8, illus. p. 6. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Signed lower left [in red paint]: DE LEMPITZKY 23

Inscribed reverse: de Lempitzky 23

N.A.

Catalogue raisonnéBlondel, Alain, Tamara de Lempicka: Catalogue Raisonné 1921–1979. Lausanne, Switzerland: Editions Acatos, 1999; B 30, illustrated p. 106.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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