Art aficionados with a special love of Art Deco know the work of Tamara de Lempicka, the Polish Parisian painter whose powerful portrayals of women catapulted her to international fame in the 1920s.

Bay Area film director Julie Rubio joins us for a chat and trailer preview of her new documentary film, The True Story of Tamara de Lempicka & The Art of Survival, before it premieres at the Mill Valley Film Festival (Oct. 11 and 13). The visually stunning feature traces the life and survival of the Jewish artist who came to the U.S. in 1940, fleeing fascism, and follows de Lempicka as she reinvents herself in the pursuit of personal and artistic freedom.

Tamara de Lempicka is having a modern moment: The documentary release coincides with a major retrospective at de Young Museum (opening Oct. 12), the recent Broadway run of the Tony Award–nominated Lempicka, and the artist’s resurgence in the current art market.

Julie Rubio is director/producer/writer of East Meets West Productions, LLC, known for its multi award-winning feature film East Side Sushi, named among the Top 20 Bay Area Films of the Decade (Mercury News). She is also president of Women in Film San Francisco Bay Area.

Also featured in the film, Paula J. Birnbaum joins us in conversation. Birnbaum is author of the book Women Artists in Interwar France: Femininities, Modernities, and the Avant-Garde, which includes a chapter on Tamara de Lempicka, whose painting also graces the cover. She is also the inaugural Ann Getty Endowed Chair and Academic Director of the Museum Studies Master of Arts Program at University of San Francisco.

Join us for happy hour from 5pm to 6pm, followed by a talk and film teaser beginning at 6pm.

© FOR ALL IMAGES: 2024 TAMARA DE LEMPICKA ESTATE, LLC / ADAGP, PARIS / ARS, NY