Dialogues: Modern and Contemporary Art

Described by The Art Story as “part jazz-age femme fatale, libertine, and social climber, and part canny self-promoter, self-styled experimental artist,” Tamara de Lempicka spent a lifetime challenging social norms. She was a Polish painter traditionally associated with the Art Deco movement, a style she combined with Italian Renaissance themes. Lempicka’s painting titled La Couronne de Fleurs II will be available in the upcoming Dialogues: Modern and Contemporary Art auction. Offered by Christie’s, this work blends classical motifs with the Modernism of the 1930s. The artist’s model wears a wreath of myrtle leaves and a translucent draped veil on her head. A bronze sculpture from Louise Bourgeois, another leading woman artist of the sale, is also available. 

The catalog for this sale surveys many art movements of the 20th and 21st centuries, from a Surrealistic religious painting by Marc Chagall to contemporary portraits by Amoako Boafo. Leading the listings is an oil painting by Jack Butler Yeats, titled California. The piece shows a young woman from Ireland arriving on the shores of California. She is greeted by a crowd of men who personify Yeats’ view of an exotic land. For more information on this or any other lot, visit Christie’s and register to bid