The
Russian-born painter Romain de Tirtoff, who called himself Erté
after the French pronunciation of his initials, was one of the
foremost fashion and stage designers of the early twentieth century.
From the sensational silver lamé costume, complete with pearl
wings and ebony-plumed cap, that he wore to a ball in 1914, to
his magical and elegant designs for the Broadway musical Stardust
in 1988, Erté pursued his chosen career with unflagging zest and
creativity for almost 80 years.
On his death in 1990, he was hailed as the "prince of the
music hall" and "a mirror of fashion for 75 years".
Born in St. Petersburg and destined by his father for a military
career, Erté confounded expectation by creating his first successful
costume design at the age of five, and was finally allowed to
move to Paris in 1912, in fulfilment of his ambition to become
a fashion illustrator.
He
soon gained a contract with the journal Harper's Bazaar, to which
he continued to contribute fashion drawings for 22 years.
Erté is perhaps best remembered for the gloriously extravagant
costumes and stage sets that he designed for the Folies-Bergère
in Paris and George White's Scandals in New York, which exploit
to the full his taste for the exotic and romantic, and his appreciation
of the sinuous and lyrical human figure.
As well as the music-hall, Erté also designed for the opera and
the traditional theatre, and spent a brief and not wholly satisfactory
period in Hollywood in 1925, at the invitation of Louis B. Mayer,
head of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer.
After a period of relative obscurity in the 1940s and 1950s,
Erté's characteristic style found a new and enthusiastic market
in the 1960s, and the artist responded to renewed demand by creating
a series of colorful lithographic prints and sculpture. This luxuriously
illustrated museum contains a rich and representative selection
of images, drawn from throughout Erté's long and extraordinary
productive career.
All Images (C) Sevenarts Ltd
