Passion by Design: The Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka

This is basically a biography of De Lempicka by her daughter and a few acquantances. It is a very complete biography of the artist. There are quite a few color reproductions of her work. They are not terribly large and there are probably better books out there in that regard. If your focus is the artist, I would highly recommend this book. If high quality reproductions are your focus, I might consider another book.

Tamara de Lempicka is an icon of the Art Deco era. Her life and artworks symbolise this and both are captured perfectly in this publication, co-written by her only daughter. Lempicka's sheer determination in life, not letting anything stand in her way captures the essence of the "Roaring Twenties", and the bold,'larger than life' figures in her work visually portrays this. On the subject of the actual artwoks, this book contains many colour reproductions which compliment the story of her life and give evidence to many of her experiences (as of course, do the photographs included). Focusing on the text, Lempicka's strong and passionate personality along with the turbulent world she lived in makes for a great read. Highly recommended to those who have an interest in women artists of the twentieth century or Art Deco painting.

I am not an art fiend, nor am I completely unable to understand the value of art in our culture. I find the art of De Lempicka abolutly facinating. This book only added to my facination. If you would like to understand her and her art, read this book. Along with the Atlas Shrugged. They complement each other beautifully.

Having recently become familiar with the work of Tamara de Lempicka, I was delighted to discover that there was a book about her. Even more so when the authoress just happened to be her only child, Kizette. Who better to know a person than a child? The book is fascinating and delightful, and the insight I gained into this amazingly talented woman was worth every cent. The book includes my 2 favourite paintings - so that was an added bonus. Kizette tends to paint a "motherly" picture of Tamara that I found rather disturbing though. I found myself wondering if Tamara was really like that. I imagine she was, talent and devotion like hers must surely have excluded those closest to her - just by virtue of the time she spent on each piece of work, and then of course the times she lived in. The book itself is well-written, and while it is informative - you do not feel that you are bogged down by superfluous detail. The illustrations and photographs included are wonderful and of her finest I am sure. I too felt there could have been more to Tamara's life towards the end, but the book seems to be very vague and maybe even rushed? I would love to know more about Tamara's later years... All in all I was very satisfied with this purchase - and if you are eager to learn more about the life and times of Tamara, this book is a must have for your coffee-table that you will delight in over and over again!

I wrote a paper on Ms. de Lempicka for my art history class and found that this book was the most informative as far as her childhood and rise to fame was concerned. I too thought it lacked when it came to the late years of her life, but it was a wonderfully easy book to read, especially when you hate to read biographical writing.