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THE ART DECO COLLECTION
THE ART DECO COLLECTION
A collection of bronze sculpture, cast in the lost wax method,
with patination, gold leaf accents and polished embellishments.
erté at his easel, 1921
portrait in front of his artwork, 1924
f
Jenkintown Press
P h i l a d e l p h i a , P e n n s y lva n i a
© 2005 chalk & vermilion fine arts and sevenarts
in paris, 1922
erté in egyptian costume of his own design, 1919
The Art Deco Collection
“The most gratifying feeling I experienced
he name “Art Deco”
costume, and graphic designs. “I am filled with a sense
as I entered my nineties came from the
came from the Exposition Internationale
of excitement whenever I see and touch a bronze from my
Although in his late eighties as he worked on the plans
des Arts Decoratifs Industriels et Modernes,
sculpture collection,” he said “through which I have been
and forms of the bronzes, Erté occasionally recalled how
held in Paris in 1925, which celebrated
able to see my drawings, thoughts, ideas and dreams come
the costumes for his theatrical productions looked in the
living in the modern world. Art Deco
to life as never before.”
limelight. The model for Starfish, for example, prompted
immediate success of my sculpture collection,
and the realization that I have touched the
or excess.
lives of so many art collectors who might
was popularly considered to be an elegant style of cool
The bronze sculptures in The Art Deco Collection
many such memories. Erté lucidly described how he outfitted
never have known this phase of my work…”
sophistication in architecture and the arts, similar in
epitomize the hallmark style elements of Art Deco—
other members of the troupe as entrancing lobsters, rays,
—Ert é
some regards to the earlier Art Nouveau style, but with a
streamlined, elegant, with a graphic quality that hints at
octopuses, and goldfish and how these dancers were almost
more Modernist aesthetic. Innovations in design for home
the Cubist influence on the Art Deco
magical in maneuvering on that house’s notoriously narrow
furnishings, fashion, and architecture were enthusiastically
movement. As with so many of his
stage with its eighteen steps. Additionally,
received by post-wwi Parisians, hungry for style, elegance
graphic and sculpture artworks, many
as artist Henry Moore once said, “Every
and modernization. In his autobiography, Things I Remember,
are based on fashion or theatrical
sculpture must have its own life,” and such
Erté says, “Art Deco has influenced the greater part of the
designs. Starfish was originally a costume
was the case for each of the Erté sculptures
twentieth century. It is an evolution from Art Nouveau in
design for the Folies-Bergère production of “Fonds de
combination with the geometric forms of Cubism.”
la Mer,” in 1919. Cabaret, so evocative of the cabaret-style
ERTé
In that year, Erté had already risen to the top of his field
shows of the day, was created originally as a costume
based on previous illustrations. In fact, rarely did
Erté execute a sculpture exactly from the original
two-dimensional image, often changing colors of a
as a fashion designer and illustrator, theatrical costume and
design for a production entitled “Walzertraum,”
set designer, and was on his way to Hollywood to design for
in 1940. Soleil de Nuit was originally a fashion
film. His influence on the art, fashion and industrial worlds
illustration that appeared in Harper’s Bazaar in
was already well established—for this reason, he is often
1917. Chinchilla, also based on a fashion design
Each sculpture, exquisite to behold,
referred to as the Father of Art Deco. Many years later,
for Harper’s Bazaar in 1924, typifies the elegant
is as lively in spirit, stylish in manner and
in 1967 (still working at an age when most people would
female form that Erté favored, with a stunning
consider retiring), Erté began to think about producing
costume that only a woman with such poise could
limited edition graphics after a show of original works in
carry off. Others, based on gouache paintings, include
New York City, all of which (179 artworks) were bought
Roaring Twenties, whose outfit and “look” embody
works, illustrations whose images were
by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The resulting graphics
the archetypal flapper icon so often associated with that
dynamic and appealing, whose costumes
were an immediate success, and soon thereafter an idea
decade. Rose Dancer, from her perch on a rosebud, dances
conveyed his stylistic development from luxury
began to form that perhaps he should expand his vision
as lightly as a rose petal on the wind. On the Avenue, is a
and grace to wit and flamboyance, and whose
to the medium of sculpture. This was a natural avenue to
figure definitely dressed and ready to see and be seen. Café
figures could be precisely and accurately rendered
pursue, as Erté’s two-dimensional work on paper was always
Society, whose posture and gown personify the glittering
in bronze. Erté blazed a trail in the fashion and theatrical
designated for three-dimensional application. The idea of
nightlife of the fashionable and beautiful and Michelle, who
worlds where no other designers had gone before. His artwork
figurative bronzes was thrilling to Erté, who at the time was
seems to characterize the Art Deco look to a “t”—cool,
continues to delight, and serves as a memorial to one of the
entering his nineties, bringing to life his favorite theater,
elegant, clean lines that make an impact without fussiness
most imaginative and exciting artists that has ever lived.
costume, or the angle of an arm to give the figure
stability, or enhancing elegance with jewels or
crystals, added for texture and sparkle.
innovative in approach as was the artist who
conceived them. He used his abundant
artistic talents to choose, from his previous
front cover: Rose Dancer, 25H x 7H x 7 inches
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Michelle, 20¾ x 14 x 8¾ inches
Café Society, 22 x 13 x 10 inches
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Starfish, 20 x 15 x 10 inches
Soleil de Nuit, 19½ x 13 x 7½ inches
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Chinchilla, 21½ x 9¼ x 8½ inches
Cabaret, 22¼ x 15¼ x 7 inches
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Roaring Twenties, 18 x 8 x 7¼ inches
On the Avenue, 21½ x 10¾ x 7¾ inches
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Selected Chronology
1892
1913
1915
Born: Romain de Tirtoff, St. Petersburg, Russia.
First important commission for leading Paris couturier Paul Poiret. Creates costumes for dancer/spy Mata Hari.
Begins 22 years with Harper’s Bazaar, with ﬁrst cover illustration published in January issue.
1919 Begins 11 years with Folies-Bergère as main set and costume designer.
1920 Designs for opera diva Ganna Walska.
1921 Designs for prima ballerina A. Pavlova.
1922 Costumes/sets for G. White’s Scandals.
1923 Costumes/sets for Ziegfeld Follies, New York City
1925 Costumes/sets in Hollywood for mgm, Cecil B. DeMille and William R. Hearst.
1933
1945
Designs for the Bal Tabarin, Paris.
1964
1966
1967
Costumes/sets, World’s Fair, New York City
Costumes/sets for Rossini’s Barber of Seville, French tv, the Lido and Bal Tabarin.
Featured in Les Années 25, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris.
nyc exhibition of 170 gouaches, Grosvenor Gallery, purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
1968 First lithographs, The Numerals.
1970 Chevalier du Mérite, Artistique et Culturel awarded by France.
1974 First serigraphs introduced.
1976 “Ofﬁcer of Arts and Letters,” France.
1978 Costumes/sets for Strauss‚ Der Rosenkavalier, Gyndebourne Opera.
1979 Erté — Or a Magician in the 20th Century, French tv. Smithsonian 1980
1985
1989
First sculptures introduced. Erté Retrospective.
Costume/set designs for d.c.’s Kennedy Center Stardust and 1990 Easter Show, Radio City Music Hall, New York City
1990
Introduces 50 new sculptures and 50 new serigraphs, all appearing in Erté, The Last Works book published by Dutton.
Institution three-year traveling retrospectives.
Awarded France’s “Legion of Honor.”
Erté died on April ,  in Paris.
1993 Exhibit at the Grosvenor Gallery, London
1996 “The Erté of Excellence Award” created by the fashion industry and awarded to honor the individual having had the greatest impact on the nation’s fashion industry each year.
2001 Retrospective held at the Museo del Corso in Rome, Italy, entitled “Fascino e Seduzione Deco” (Art Deco Charm and Seduction).
2003 Original gouache paintings of The Alphabet Suite exhibited at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France.
Original costume designs exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, “Erté—Opera and Ballets Russe.”
2004 Erté, original gouache paintings and collages exhibited at the Robert Sandelson Gallery, London, England.
Erté—Back to Russia, paintings, prints and sculpture exhibited at Gallery Donde, Moscow, Russia.
Estée Lauder cosmetics introduces a line of powder compacts,
featuring the twelve Erté Zodiac images.
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