La Belle Rafaela

A voluptuous nude reclines across the canvas, her ample body modeled in smooth, sculptural volumes and glowing flesh tones against deep red drapery, sensual yet hard-edged and modern. Tamara de Lempicka brings her polished, lacquered Art Deco style to the reclining nude, the figure monumental and frankly erotic. Now in a private collection, La Belle Rafaela is among the most celebrated of her nudes - the traditional odalisque rebuilt in the sleek, machine-age idiom of the 1920s, all gleaming curves and bold color, sensuality given a cool, streamlined, distinctly modern edge.