The Art Deco Portrait

Les Arts Decoratifs. Lacquered boxes, silver cocktail shakers, coromandal screens, streamlined furniture and the jewelry! Portraits are far down the list when the subject is Art Deco but they exist. Some, like the Polish-born Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980) are newly fashionable, some like the Russian Pavel Tchelitchew (1898-1957) are known to devotees, and others, like Pedro Pruna O'cerans (1904- 1977) are hardly remembered at all.
The Rose Chemise (1927) is a daring work, even for de Lempicka, the luscious tones and sleekness of silk and skin need nothing more for a background than the indistinct grey draperies the artist often employed. The subject, though unnamed, shows why the artist, only two years after her first exhibition in Milan, was already the most sought-after portraitist of her generation.

Four years later Tchelitchew, who is remembered as a Surrealist, painted Woman Holding A Fan - and an interesting fan it is, perhaps in tribute the rejuvenated interest in decorative objects in his adopted city of Paris since L'Exposition des Arts Decoratifs, held there in 1925.
Portrait of Madame R. M. by O'cerans replicates a pose often used in French art but, in keeping with the new mood, Madame hardly seems more vulnerable in a reclining position than she would if sweeping into a room. These are new women - and proud of it.