 |
|
 |
Erte The designs created by Erte during his long and illustrious life influenced not only the world of theatre, film and fashion, but an entire art movement as well. The genius of the artist is evidenced by an enormous body of work that is considered among the most influential and unique of the 20th century. Erte – Romain de Tirtoff – was born in Russia in 1892, and died at age 97 in 1990. His legendary career spanned nearly the entire length of his life. In 1912, Erte moved to Paris and his unique talent was immediately recognized by the city’s most established couturiers. In 1915, he began an associaton with Harper’s Bazaar by designing covers of each of their magazines for the next 22 years. The influence of his work as a result of the high visibility of this periodical influenced an entire art movement that was to become known as Art Deco. Throughout this period, the artist 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. His creations for the stage included extravagant designs for productions at such venues as New York’s Radio City Music Hall, the Casino de Paris and the Paris Opera, as well as for the Folies-Bergere and George White’s Scandals. At the age of 75, Erte was encouraged to embark
on a new career and began to recreate the remarkable
designs of his youth in bronze and serigraphy. The
Art Deco movement was hence reborn. A lifetime of
international success and recognition has ensured
this unique artist’s place in the annals of
art history, and his original designs grace the permanent
collections of prestigious museums throughout the
world including New York’s Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian Institution
and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum.
• • • “Numbers,” a suite of ten original mixed media fine art graphics by Erte, was published by Circle Fine Art Corporation in 1981. Currently available at Bert Gallery, edition no. 112/350 of the American Edition is priced at $10,000. for the full set of 10 (originally purchased in 1981 at $9,200.) “I first conceived my designs for the “Numbers” in 1968, when I began to create limited edition prints. These designs were the basis for a small edition (75) of lithographs, which I executed at Curwen Press, London, and which were published by the Grosvenor Gallery. Since that time, I have become increasingly involved in creating editions of graphics, and I have experimented with and learned to create prints utilizing many different printing techniques other than lithography. Although I have based these new prints on the same over-all designs for my previous lithograph edition of the “Numbers,” these new works have been achieved by utilizing various combinations of serigraphy, embossing, metal stamping and flocking. The effects differ substantially from the lithographs. I hope viewers of these new works are as pleased
as I am with the results. |