Ertè

"ERTÈ"; ROMAIN DE TIRTOFF (St. Petersburg, 1892 - Paris, 1990).
Art Deco box.
Pure pewter and wood.
Signed on the top. With stamps on the base.
Shows marks of use and wear.
Measurements: 5 x 10,5 x 10,5 cm.

Colloquially known as Erté, Romain de Tirtoff has been one of the greats of costume design, illustration, jewelry design, interior design, fashion and sculpture within Art Deco. When she was only 18 years old, Erté moved to France where she would develop a good part of her professional career. He worked in the famous magazine Harper's Bazaar. As a designer, one of his first important jobs was designing costumes for the French dancer Gaby Deslys. Erté, soon began to make dresses for some of the most important artists of the moment such as Joan Crawford, Marion Davis, Norma Shearer, Llillian Gish, as well as costumes for the Paris Opera, the Radio City Music Hall, Folies-Bergères and George White Scandals, The Casino de Pais. It is also important to highlight how Erté would become the designer of Broadway figures such as Iréne Bordoni. In the last stage of his life Erté decided to give a turn to his professional career and began to focus on bronze sculpture and silkscreen printing, also achieving great success in this facet. Currently his work is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, or the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, The County Museum of California among others.