Hi everyone, I’m Furio Rinaldi. I’m Curator in Charge of Prints and Drawings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. And I’m thrilled to be here today with the amazing Lady Camden. Hello. My name is Lady Camden. I am the ladiest of ladies. And today, I’m here to be a culture vulture. We are here in the historic Redwood Room in downtown San Francisco. It was built in 1933, the day after the prohibition ended.

It’s very appropriate for us to celebrate with an amazing drink. This is really the only reason I’m here is for the free drinks. I hope you know that. And we are here today to talk about an amazing artist, Tamara de Lempicka, who took Paris by storm in the 1920s with her bold and cosmopolitan painting style. She defined the Art Deco with a series of amazing portraits of the European jet set and very sensual female nudes.

And that’s what I call my own selfies, sensual female nudes. So once she arrives in Paris, she has no money. She has a little daughter to sustain, and her husband didn’t want to work. So it’s really on to her to invent a new life in Paris. She was wearing the trousers. She was totally wearing the trousers. She begins this career as a professional artist.

She develops this style, which is entirely unique and fascinating. What’s equally fascinating about Lempicka is her personal life. Yeah. This is what I want to know, the real tea. I want to hear some of this gossip. Although she was married to men, plural, throughout her life, she entertained romantic relationships with women as well. Scandalous! As soon as she arrives in Paris, she rents this very small studio apartment, and her direct neighbor on the same floor was, how do you say? Gay? Was gay. Well, that’s how she met what would become the love of her life. Her neighbor was her lover? Yes. Ira Perrot, who was a poet. She became one of Lempicka’s great muses. They entertained a relationship that lasted until probably the 1970s. So 50 years. So in order to find my one true love, I just have to keep moving apartments?

I think you . . . yes. And renting. Renting, OK, perfect. So in light of Lempicka’s journey, it is important to highlight bisexuality as an element of her identity, especially nowadays where bi-erasure is so prevalent. So in order to recognize some of the great creators of Lempicka’s, period that were bisexual, we’re going to play a game.

What is this game? It’s called Who’s That Bi? Who’s That Bi? So are you ready, Lady? I’m ready. It’s upside down. Yes. So here’s the first clue. She was an author who bloomed in the city, sailed off to a lighthouse, and you might find her in a room of her own. You need not beware of wolfing down her novels.

Who is she? OK. Sailed off to a lighthouse. I prefer how you say lighthouse. Lighthouse. Lighthouse. So, let’s guess. I’m ready. One, two, three. Virginia Woolf. That makes sense. Yes. Why Beyoncé? Because Beyoncé can do anything. Now, Furio, are you ready for your clue? I’m kind of ready. OK, I believe in you. She was born across the ocean. You could say it was a foreign affair.

Now she’s made of silver, silent and loud. Find her at the sewing circle in a suit with a trich up her sleeve. It’s spelt T-R-I-C-H. I know, I know. I think I know. I know, I know, I know. OK, I’m so excited. I think emphasis on the trich. One, two, three. Is it right? Yes. D — that’s not how you spell it.

I kind of was feeling very Marlene today. Yes, yes, it’s a mix of Marlene and Jean Harlow, of course. And Christina Aguilera. And Christina, of course. I see it. I’m giving Christina Aguilera as if she was an art collector, but she’s a collector of paychecks. Yes. So, Lady Camden. Another thing that ties Tamara to you, particularly today, is kind of an iconic scene where a painting by Tamara de Lempicka appears.

It’s during the audition of Christina Aguilera in front of Cher in the movie Burlesque. Wagon Wheel Watusi! Exactly, you got it. The famous — you remember that moment, right? Am I gay? This brings us to some of the really fun and exciting moments of Lempicka’s appearance in pop culture history. I don’t know if you want to play another game?

I thought you’d never ask. I’m ready. Now it’s time for Lempick-tionary! So, we are basically picking clues from pop culture and draw the answer. Here we go. I’m so nervous. Pick well.

Oh. Oh no. OK, you ready? Yes. It’s Batman. Yes, it is. Yes. Yeah, but I’m laughing because this looks like a very popular app that’s used for finding. . . Fun. Romantic relationships. Yes, yes. At two in the morning. Yes. Sometimes. Yes, we should. I was on it last night. And did you, like, use that signal? I did, I did, I did. I have a Batman torch that I shine out my window.

It would work so well with the fog of San Francisco. Why, Batman? Can you guess? Oh, I was, because, like, the style of the film is very, like, dark and 20s. And like, here see. Precisely. 1920, this is what happened, mah. Precisely. We’re of course, talking about the 1989 “Batman” movie by Tim Burton, with Michael Keaton in the leading role, which was entirely inspired by the hard-edged, streamlined aesthetic of the Art Deco, and it’s a moment there’s also a reproduction of a Lempicka painting. Your turn.

By all means, move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me. So I’m a drawing curator, but I’m really awful at drawing. That’s perfect, I love that. One, two, three. Lady Gaga. No, but close. Mother Mary, right? Yes. Who’s the other woman other than Mary? Madon. . . McDonald’s? Madonna. Madonna. Thank you. Oh my God. Thank God I’m gorgeous.

Wow. So why Madonna? Madonna is one of the most prominent collectors of Tamara de Lempicka. She featured many of Lempicka’s paintings and aesthetics in her music videos. I got chills. Yeah. So cool. This is pop culture, like, Bible. I feel like I’ve learned so much about Lempicka, and I love how much you love her, and you’re so passionate about her work.

What does it mean for you personally to be sharing her story, her collection, with San Francisco? I think it’s a very important thing because we’re the first museum to do a retrospective on this beloved artist. Which is crazy, by the way. Absolutely. Someone like Lempicka, who was marginalized by the critics, never given a retrospective in the United States.

It is very, very important to do. Love that. And that brings me joy. You bring such a sophisticated world in your artistry and drag. So my question to you, what does that drag represent to you? I feel like it gives me permission to not be so serious. And I think this sort of playing with gender norms is very fascinating because it’s giving you permission to ask the question, what would it be like to, sort of, play with gender a bit, playing with what it might be like to be a bit more masculine presenting or be a bit more feminine presenting?

Just posing the question itself is very, very cool. Yes, and be playful with it. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for being with us today. It was an honor. You look like you just stepped out of a Lempicka painting and went through Christina Aguilera’s dressing room, and then got here. Thank you. I really just came here for the free drinks.

Yes. So. Yes, me too. On that note, thank you for a great day. Cheers. Always, always. Free drinks at the Fine Arts Museums. Is that right? Let’s do it. The bartender’s like, no. I don’t even think we have a bartender. But we should. Is there going to be, are you’ going to have these drinks at opening? At the opening? Yes. And calla lilies.

Calla lilies. That was, like, the most Italian sounding thing you’ve said all day.