Christie's presents the painting “Portrait du Docteur Boucard” by Tamara de Lempicka (1928; estimate: £5.000.000-8.000.000) as one of the highlights of his 20th/21st century: London Evening Sale on 5 March 2025.
A stunning celebration of scientific achievement and artistic mastery, the Portrait du Docteur Boucard by Tamara de Lempicka captures pioneering medical scientist Pierre Boucard in a moment of dynamic brilliance. An esteemed bacteriologist, Boucard revolutionized pharmaceutical science with the 1907 invention of Lactéol, a probiotic that laid the foundation for modern gut health research, still in use today. Lempicka’s talent for fusing personal identity with broader social and historical themes made her one of the 20th century’s most important portraitists. Bathed in a dramatic shaft of light, Boucard turns toward the glow, one hand resting on a microscope, the other clutching a glass test tube. The stark cubist background and striking chiaroscuro create dynamic tension, capturing both the precision of scientific inquiry and the sophistication of modern portraiture. With her signature smooth, glossy finish and sculptural precision, Lempicka portrays Boucard as both an esteemed scientist and a man of distinction. His white trench coat, reminiscent of a lab coat, suggests a cinematic transformation. His raised collar, pearl-accented tie and sharply defined features convey both intellectual authority and cosmopolitan allure. Gazing away with quiet confidence, Boucard, like many of Lempicka's subjects, exudes the sophistication and ambition of high society to whom it belonged.
The style of Tamara de Lempicka
Lempicka's rise in the art world was meteoric. Having fled Russia during the revolution, she settled in Paris in 1918 and trained under the influential Maurice Denis and André Lhote, whose Cubist style left a lasting impression on her work. By the mid-20s, she had become the most sought-after portraitist among Europe's elite, attracting commissions from Milanese high society after her successful 1925 solo exhibition at the Bottega di Poesia. The late 20s marked a golden age for the artist, cementing her reputation as the leading female artist of les années folles, the glamorous and energetic years between the two world wars. With Boucard's generous financial support, she established a cutting-edge studio on the Rue Méchain in Paris, designed by the modernist architect Robert Mallet-Stevens. This space became both a creative sanctuary and a glamorous social hub, where Lempicka hosted fashionable gatherings that further cemented her image as an artist at the forefront of modernity.
