Tamara de Lempicka imperial edicts

Collection

Identifier: MS 0098

Staff Only

Finding aid note: Stored onsite in the vault at the Woodson Research Center.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of two imperial edicts and a seal with a coat of arms given to Baron Karoly Kuffner by Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

Dates

Creation: 1900

Conditions Governing Access

This material is open for research.

Stored onsite in the vault at the Woodson Research Center.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish from the Tamara de Lempicka imperial edicts must be obtained from the Woodson Research Center.

The Woodson Research Center use policy is that researchers assume sole responsibility for any infringement of privacy, literary rights, copyrights, or other rights arising from their use of the archival materials. In addition to any restrictions placed by donors, certain kinds of archival materials are restricted for the life of the creator plus 50 years. These materials include, but are not limited to, student grades, transcripts, and any job applications or recommendations.

Biographical / Historical

On December 15, 1966, Baroness Tamara de Kuffner gave Rice University two edicts awarded to her father-in-law Baron Karoly Kuffner. Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary gave the edicts, statements of nobility, to Karoly Kuffner in honor of the quality of beef grown on his land. The emperor bestowed the edicts on two separate occasions around the turn of the 20th century.

The Baroness was the artist Tamara de Lempicka née Maria Górska. A noted Art Deco artist, she was famous for her portraiture of notable people throughout Europe. She took up with other artists and writers in Paris in the 1920s, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau, among others.

She went on to marry Baron Raoul Kuffner von Diószeg in February 1934 after a long affair. Around 1939, they moved to Hollywood, occupying King Vidor’s former residence. The Baron passed in 1962.

The Baroness de Kuffner arrived in Houston in September 1963. She chose a Regency House apartment on Westheimer in Houston and lived in the city until 1978. During her time in Houston, she gifted the edicts, rare books, furniture, china, and silver to Rice.