Portrait of Marquis Sommi 1925

Tamara de Lempicka painted this portrait of Marquis Sommi with oils. The first thing that strikes me is the palette; browns, whites, with the startling splash of blue. It's interesting how the colours are all quite close in tone, yet the painting still feels bright. This is definitely down to the way de Lempicka is using light, almost as if she is carving the forms out of light itself. I'm really drawn to the way the dark brown of the suit is rendered. It has this translucent quality, a bit like molasses, which is contrasted with the stark white of the collar and cuffs. It is not a flashy painting, but somehow incredibly glamorous, and maybe that's down to how carefully she has considered the interplay between light and dark. De Lempicka reminds me a bit of Balthus, in the way she elevates her subjects with formal painting techniques. Both artists show us how artmaking embraces ambiguity.