Surrealist Hand 1947

Tamara de Lempicka created this enigmatic painting, Surrealist Hand, with oil on canvas. The smooth surface and subtle gradations of tone were achieved with a meticulous, almost photographic technique. Lempicka worked with brushes, but also rags and perhaps even her fingers, to blend the pigments seamlessly. The resulting appearance is highly artificial. Consider that Lempicka was a master of Art Deco portraiture, adept at capturing the sheen of wealth and privilege. She brought this sensibility to bear even when exploring more experimental artistic terrain. The hand itself is rendered with the same care and attention to detail as one of her society subjects. This imbues the painting with a sense of alienation, as though the hand is a detached object, separate from the world around it. It is precisely this tension between the traditional craft of painting and the radical ideas of Surrealism that makes Lempicka's work so compelling. She shows us that even the most avant-garde art is rooted in material and technique.