Roman De Tirtoff 'Erté'
(1892 - 1990)
Erté was born Romain de Tirtoff in St. Petersburg, Russia. The only son of an admiral in the Imperial Fleet, he was raised amidst Russia's social elite. He moved to Paris at the age of eighteen and took the name Erté, from the French pronunciation of his initials, R and T.
In 1915 he began his long relationship with Harper's Bazaar, during which time he created over 240 covers for the magazine. His fashion designs also appeared in many other publications, making him one of the most widely recognized artists of the 1920s.
Throughout this period, he also created original costume and fashion designs for many of the era's most renowned screen actresses, including Joan Crawford, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies, Anna Pavlova, Norma Shearer and others.
He 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.
The two beautiful and highly detailed works here are designs for stage curtains for White's "Scandals" stage show in 1925 and 1926, which featured songs by Irving Berlin and George Gershwin. Painted in gouache and metallic paint the attention to detail and style is exquisite.
In 1976 the French government awarded Erté the title of Officer of Arts and Letters, and in 1982 the Medaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris was bestowed upon him. His work is in many prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Provenance:
Diamond Curtain for 'The Treasures', George White's Scandals, New York, 1925
Illustrated on page 146, no. 123 in "Erté" by Charles Spencer, published in 1971. Collection: Lex Aitkin, London. Exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1966
Les Oiseaux, 1926
Gunter Sachs Collection. Exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1966