THE POWER OF IMAGINATION: WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER ERTE? Fashion, jewelry, paintings, drawings, theatrical costumes, sculpture, set designs for theater, film and opera. There was nothing that Roman Petrovich Tyrtof couldn't do -- once he left his city of birth Saint Petersburg, Russia and found his artistic calling in Paris in the year 1907. Of course, it was much easier for the French folks to pronounce his initials R.T. and, thus, Erté was born -- and the creative world was never the same since (Tyrtof assumed this pseudonym on his own, not wanting to disgrace his upright, military family back in Russia -- heavens forbid!). Erté's look practically defined the era in which he lived -- but considering that he passed away in 1990, that gave him lots of time in which to put out a staggering ouevre once all was said and done. Prolific he was, indeed, but it was the amazing imagination that he possessed that was really his ticket to fame. Flowing, sensuous lines. Pedantic detailing. Luscious color. Long, lithe figures in utterly romantic and almost impossible poses. Suggestive, blatant, ambiguous erotica. Dreamlike landscapes. Classic physiques. Prior to Erté, the art world had Aubrey Beardsley and his erotically-charged drawings that called up lost times tinged with the exotic. Erté, however, used his own day and time as a springboard for his many luxurious ideas -- starting with his work for the era's most famed couturier Paul Poiret from 1913 to 1914, followed by a contract with Harper's Bazaar magazine which really opened the floodgates to his career (between 1915 and 1937, he designed more than 200 covers for Harper's -- and later Cosmopolitan, Ladie's Home Journal and Vogue to name a few). It was the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923 that introduced his programme, costume (see above) and set designs to the multitudes -- and then Hollywood came calling (doesn't it always at some point, kids??). None other than Louis B. Mayer brought Erté to Tinseltown in 1925, which resulted in set designs for silent film classic Ben-Hur among the many productions. Keep reading below....
