Julie Rubio was 21 years old when she first saw Tamara de Lempicka’s vibrant, sensual works hanging in a hotel in Miami. The pieces of water lilies, a portrait of longtime friend and lover Ira Perrot and a self-portrait in a green Bugatti resonated with Rubio.
“Her art, with its bold lines and striking figures, spoke to me in a way that was both profound and deeply personal,” said Rubio, an Orinda resident. “I soon learned that Tamara’s art was influenced by her relationships with both men and women. This revelation struck a chord within me.”
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“As I explored Tamara’s life further, I discovered her bisexuality and, in doing so, recognized the same truth within myself. It was a moment of clarity and self-acceptance, highlighting the importance of representation.”
Years later, at an exhibit at a gallery in San Francisco, Rubio met some of de Lempicka’s relatives, who had seen a short film she made about impressionist painter Edgar Degas and one of his works, “The Rape.” They were looking for a female filmmaker to write and direct a film about de Lempicka’s inspiring life and her legacy as an artist.
“They told me how she survived the Russian Revolution and went to Paris,” Rubio said. “And she was so savvy to understand when to leave Paris because of all the fascism that was going on because she had lived through war before, and she knew what was coming. She saved her bisexual husband’s life at the time and talked him into selling everything and moving quietly over to the United States to get out before Hitler came. I was like, she’s incredible.”
Rubio knew she had to help tell her story. The result is “The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival,” a documentary that will be shown at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Monday, 11:15 a.m. May 7 and 9:45 a.m. May 8 at the Lark Theater in Larkspur.
The screening on Friday will include a question-and-answer session with Rubio and her husband, co-producer Blake Wellen, moderated by Marty Murphy, executive director of the Larkspur Chamber of Commerce. Admission is $9.25 to $16.25. More information is online at larktheater.net.
The film, which had its premiere at the Mill Valley Film Festival last fall, features interviews with relatives, art historians, collectors, international reporters and Hollywood and Broadway stars, as well as personal home videos and previously unseen paintings. Barbra Streisand, a collector of de Lempicka’s work, allowed Rubio access to her collection and offered comments and guidance throughout the project.
“Julie’s been talking about this particular project with the Lempickas for over 20 years,” said Wellen, who grew up in Marin. Their son Elijah also worked with them on the film.
While Wellen explored painting at Tamalpais High School and the University of California at Los Angeles, he fell in love with the medium of film through Rubio.
Reinventing herself
De Lempicka, who rose to international stardom in the 1920s, had to reinvent herself repeatedly throughout her life, hiding parts of herself to protect herself and her family and to avoid the rising tide of antisemitism that flooded Europe throughout her lifetime.
“I think there were a lot of people like, ‘She hid her Jewish heritage,’ but it wasn’t an act of deceit. It was the necessary protection,” she said. “Tamara found a way to make something beautiful out of her pain, but she was having to lie her whole life in order to survive.”
Through her research for the film, Rubio was able to uncover the full truth about de Lempicka’s identity. She was born in 1894, four years earlier than previously thought; her name was Tamara Rosa Hurwitz, not Tamara Rozalia Gurwik-Górska; and her family converted from Judaism to Calvinism.
“I think she broke down a lot of barriers and opened up doors for female artists. And she put all those struggles and turmoil in her paintings and made something beautiful out of her pain. I think that shows a lot of bravery,” said Rubio, who grew up in Los Angeles with dreams to be in the movie business. “I feel blessed that I’ve been able to swim in her story for all these years now.”
Not only is de Lempicka’s art just as relevant today, but so are the lessons that can be gleaned from her life story, Rubio said.
“We can look at what she was capable of doing,” she said. “I lost my mom and my best friend making the film, and I wanted to dedicate the film to them and realized while making the film that life’s going to really knock you down, and you have to figure out ways to get back up so that you can find your peace, happiness and joy in this life when you’re in pain. I think she really left us a road map on how to do that.”
It has only been recently that de Lempicka, known for her portraits of high society during the Jazz Age and sensual nudes, as well as her depictions of marginalized communities and those impacted by war, has finally been brought into the public eye stateside. The first major retrospective of the work in the United States was recently at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and it has since moved to Houston. “Lempicka,” a musical on her life, came to Broadway in 2024.
“I think she was very underappreciated in the past,” said Rubio, president of Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area. “But I think this is really her time, and it’s been so nice to see people finally appreciate her. It’s an empowering story. She was painting the future, a new society through her paintings. Her legacy needs to be one of innovation and strength.”
More information at tamaradoc.com.