This is what the real Tamara de Lempicka had to say about her first encounter with the real model for Beautiful Rafaela in the Bois du Boulogne, according to her daughter, Kizette Foxhall de Lempicka:
“Suddenly,” Tamara would say, “I become aware of a woman walking some distance in front of me. As she walks, everyone in the opposite direction stops and looks at her. They turn their heads as she passes by. I am curious. What is so extraordinary that she is doing this? I walk very quickly until I pass her, then I turn around and come back down the path in the opposite direction. Then I see why everyone stops. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen—huge black eyes, beautiful sensuous mouth, beautiful body. I stop her and say to her, ‘Mademoiselle, I’m a painter and I would like you to come pose for me. Would you do this?’ She says, ‘Yes, why not?’ And I say, ‘Yes, come. My car is here.’
“I took her home in my car, we had lunch, and after lunch, in my studio, I said, ‘Undress, I want to paint you.’ She undressed without any shame. I said, ‘Lay down on this sofa here.’ She lay. Every position was art—perfection. And I started to paint her, and I painted her for over a year.”
(Foxhall de Lempicka, Kizette. Passion by Design: the Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. p.80.)
Your sketch of Rafaela is gorgeous. Please let me know when you finish this; I'd love to read/see it! (Maybe we can trade books.) Best wishes, Ellis Avery (ellisavery at gmail dot com)
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Tamara de Lempicka's own account of meeting "Beautiful" Rafaela
Date: 28/10/11 15:48 (UTC)“Suddenly,” Tamara would say, “I become aware of a woman walking some distance in front of me. As she walks, everyone in the opposite direction stops and looks at her. They turn their heads as she passes by. I am curious. What is so extraordinary that she is doing this? I walk very quickly until I pass her, then I turn around and come back down the path in the opposite direction. Then I see why everyone stops. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen—huge black eyes, beautiful sensuous mouth, beautiful body. I stop her and say to her, ‘Mademoiselle, I’m a painter and I would like you to come pose for me. Would you do this?’ She says, ‘Yes, why not?’ And I say, ‘Yes, come. My car is here.’
“I took her home in my car, we had lunch, and after lunch, in my studio, I said, ‘Undress, I want to paint you.’ She undressed without any shame. I said, ‘Lay down on this sofa here.’ She lay. Every position was art—perfection. And I started to paint her, and I painted her for over a year.”
(Foxhall de Lempicka, Kizette. Passion by Design: the Art and Times of Tamara de Lempicka. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987. p.80.)
Your sketch of Rafaela is gorgeous. Please let me know when you finish this; I'd love to read/see it! (Maybe we can trade books.) Best wishes, Ellis Avery (ellisavery at gmail dot com)