Tamara Łempicka (1898–1980), *La Dormeuse* (*The Sleeper*) 2011 (1930)

Giclée, Arches vellum paper, 74 x 83 cm, mounted in a frame and a double passe-partout with two gold slippers.
Producer: Elite Lithoraphers, Edmonton, Canada
License: Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC Canada
Tamara de Lempicka, known as the “baroness with a paintbrush,” reached the pinnacle of her unique style in her 1930 painting *La Dormeuse* (*The Sleeper*), which combines the decorative qualities of Art Deco with a post-Cubist form. It is one of her most sensual and iconic works. Lempicka employs her characteristic tight framing here. The figure of the woman almost “bursts” out of the picture frame, giving the composition a monumental, almost sculptural character.
The model for Tamara Łempicka’s “La Dormeuse” was most likely Ira Perrot (born Ira de Perrot), a close friend and great muse of Tamara Łempicka, and for a time also her lover. It is precisely the portraits of Ira Perrot that rank among the artist’s most sensual and intimate works from the 1920s and 1930s. Łempicka often painted her in a statuesque manner, almost “frozen” in motion, which is perfectly evident in this painting. This also explains the extraordinary emotional intensity and sensuality that radiate from this—paradoxically—“cool” composition in technical terms.