Tamara Łempicka was a Polish painter who spent her working life in France and the United States. She is best known for her polished Art Deco portraits of aristocrats and the wealthy, for her stylized paintings of nudes. Born in Warsaw, Lempicka moved to Saint Petersburg where she married a prominent Polish lawyer travelled to Paris, she studied painting with André Lhote. Her style was a blend of late, refined cubism and the neoclassical style inspired by the work of Jean-Dominique Ingres, she was an active participant in the social life of Paris between the Wars. In 1928 she became the mistress of Baron Raoul Kuffner, a wealthy art collector from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the death of his wife in 1933, the Baron married Lempicka in 1934, thereafter she became known in the press as "The Baroness with a Brush". Following the outbreak of World War II in 1939, she and her husband moved to the United States and she painted celebrity portraits, as well as still lifes and, in the 1960s, some abstract paintings.

Her work was out of fashion after World War II, but made a comeback in the late 1960s, with the rediscovery of Art Deco. She moved to Mexico in 1974, where she died in 1980. At her request, her ashes were scattered over the Popocatépetl volcano, she was born on 16 May 1898, in Warsaw part of Congress Poland of the Russian Empire. Her father was Boris Gurwik-Górski, a Russian Jewish attorney for a French trading company, her mother was Malwina Decler, a Polish Catholic socialite who had lived most of her life abroad and who met her husband at one of the European spas; when she was ten, her mother commissioned a pastel portrait of her by a prominent local artist. She was dissatisfied with the finished work, she took the pastels, had her younger sister pose, made her first portrait. In 1911 her parents sent her to a boarding school in Lausanne, but she was bored and she feigned illness to be permitted to leave the school. Instead, her grandmother took her on a tour of Italy. After her parents divorced in 1912, she chose to spend the summer with her wealthy Aunt Stefa in Saint Petersburg.

There, in 1915, she fell in love with a prominent Polish lawyer, Tadeusz Łempicki. Her family offered him a large dowry, they were married in 1916 in the chapel of the Knights of Malta in St. Petersburg; the Russian Revolution in November 1917 overturned their comfortable life. In December 1917, Tadeusz Łempicki was arrested in the middle of the night by the Cheka, the secret police. Tamara searched the prisons for him, with the help of the Swedish consul, to whom she offered her favors, she secured his release, they traveled to Copenhagen to London and to Paris, where Tamara's family had found refuge. In Paris, the Łempickis lived for a while from the sale of family jewels. Tadeusz proved unable to find suitable work, their daughter, Maria Krystyna "Kizette", was born around 1919. Lempicka decided to become a painter at her sister's suggestion, studied at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière with Maurice Denis and with André Lhote, to have a greater influence on her style, her first paintings were still portraits of her daughter Kizette and her neighbor.

She sold her first paintings through the Galerie Colette-Weil, which allowed her to exhibit at the Salon des independents, the Salon d'automne, the Salon des moins de trente ans, for promising young painters. She exhibited at the Salon d'automne for the first time in 1922. During this period, she signed her paintings "Lempitzki"—the masculine form of her name, her breakthrough came in 1925, with the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, which gave its name to the style Art Deco. She exhibited her paintings in two of the major venues, the Salon des Tuileries and the Salon des femmes peintres, her paintings were spotted by American journalists from Harper's Bazaar and other fashion magazines, her name became known. In the same year, she had her first major exposition in Milan, organized for her by Count Emmanuele Castelbarco. For this show, Lempicka painted 28 new works in six months. During her Italian tour, she took the Marquis Sommi Picenardi, she was invited to meet the famous Italian poet and playwright Gabriele d'Annunzio.

She visited him twice at his villa on Lake Garda. After her unsuccessful attempts to secure the commission, she went away angry, while d'Annunzio remained unsatisfied. In 1927, Lempicka won her first major award, the first prize at the Exposition Internationale des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux, for her portrait of Kizette on the Balcony. In 1929, another portrait of Kizette, at her First Communion, won a bronze medal at the international exposition in Poznań, Poland. In 1928 she was divorced from Tadeusz Łempicki; that same year, she met Raoul Kuffner, a baron of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and an art collector. His title was not an ancient one, he owned properties of considerable size in eastern Europe. He commissioned her to paint the Spanish dancer Nana de Herrera. Lempicka took the place of de Herrera as the mistress of the baron, she bought an apartment on rue Méchain in Paris and had it decorated by the mode

ShortCutz Amsterdam is an annual film festival promoting short films in Amsterdam, Netherlands held the whole year through. ShortCutz Amsterdam is a film festival held the whole year through, promoting Dutch short films in The Netherlands; every week has two short films competing. After the end of the calendar month the jury will select the winner of the month; the winner of the month is nominated for a Mr. Zee Award and the winners will be presented at the end of January at the ShortCutz Amsterdam Annual Award Ceremony at EYE Film Institute Netherlands. Winners of the Mr. Zee award will receive funding for their next film project, special screenings in cinema's and a distribution deal. A unique aspect of the festival is that jury members are encouraged to give their personal feedback on the selected films. Giving the filmmakers the opportunity to have professionals like Rutger Hauer, Jan Harlan or Eddy Terstall comment on their films; because of the informal vibe of the festival jury members can be spotted at the weekly screening sessions, lowering the bar for young creatives to come in contact with well-known film professionals.

The weekly screening sessions are held at the De Kring, located in the heart of Amsterdam, on the corner of the Leidseplein. It is one of the main artists clubs of the city; the ShortCutz Amsterdam Annual Awards Ceremony is held every January at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands. The EYE is a modern building located on the north bank of Amsterdam's waterfront, just behind the Central Station. In 2019 the ShortCutz festival mobile app was released on Android and iOS. Giving mobile users an easy way to read about the news, weekly sessions and screening schedules; the app gives the users the opportunity to connect with film professionals, upcoming talent and the film audience. The Official Selection In Competition – Short films competing for the Mr. Zee Award, they are projected in De Kring Amsterdam. Special Guests – Every session is accompanied by an influential guest from the film industry and will hold an open Q&A. ShortCutz Amsterdam Award Ceremony – Awards presentation honoring the best talent in short-film achievements.

Events Best of ShortCutz – Special selection of the best of films. Marathon of New Dutch Cinema – In one night, it showcases the vitality and diversity of short films. Shortcutz National Audience Awards; the jury composed of an ambassador and various film directors, actors and art personalities, determine the prizes for the best short films in the competition. The juries hold the responsibility for choosing the monthly winner and which films will receive a Mr. Zee award. Notable jury members: Waldemar Torenstra, George Sluizer, Laser 3.14, Tygo Gernandt, Hanna Verboom, Mijke de Jong, Roel Reiné, Eddy Terstall, Ariane Schluter, Rutger Hauer, Jan Harlan, Willeke van Ammelrooy, Pieter Kuijpers. The Career Achievement Award has been awarded since 2013; the winners are: 2018 - Frans Weisz, 2017 - Heddy Honigmann, 2016 - Pieter Kuijpers, 2015 - Rutger Hauer, 2014 - Jos Stelling and 2013 - George Sluizer. The Mr. Zee Award has various sponsors, including ShortsTV, Camalot Amsterdam, Filmmore and EYE Film Institute Netherlands.

The Mr. Zee awards are made by ProtoSpace. ShortCutz Amsterdam ShortCutz Amsterdam on IMDb ShortCutz Amsterdam on FilmFreeway.com Download the ShortCutz Amsterdam Mobile App on Android & iOS

Teddy Wayne is an American novelist and author of Apartment, The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, Kapitoil. He is the winner of an NEA Creative Writing Fellowship. Wayne writes a column for The New York Times, Future Tense, is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, McSweeney's, many other publications. See the article lists in External Links. Kapitoil. Harper Perennial. 2010. The Love Song of Jonny Valentine. Free Press. 2013. Loner. Simon & Schuster. 2016. Apartment. Bloomsbury. 2020. "I work hard and I play soft". Shouts & Murmurs; the New Yorker. 89: 51. March 25, 2013. "The Saccharine Method". Shouts & Murmurs; the New Yorker. 89: 32. February 3, 2014. Corrigan, Maureen. "A First Year College Student Finds Himself Outclassed In'Loner'". NPR. Kreizman, Maris. "Teddy Wayne's Loner Sheds Light on the Plight of All the Sad, Insecure Young Men". Esquire. 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship 2011 Young Lions Fiction Award finalist 2011 PEN/Bingham Prize runner-up 2011 Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist 2011 Whiting Award Author's website Profile at The Whiting Foundation Collected New York Times articles.

Collected New Yorker articles. Collected McSweeney's articles