Erté

American Millionairess

1990

Erté is largely credited with creating the look of the Jazz Age. The 'Roaring Twenties' is a phrase used to describe the 1920s, principally in North America, but also in London and P...

Erté, considered by many as the “Father of Art Deco,” often acknowledged that his love for the theater was a great source of creativity and inspiration. He conveyed in his art a drama with which he lived his life – a dream that came from the very innermost expression of his soul. Just like theater has two faces - comedy and tragedy - Erté was a brilliant showman, as well as a quiet man who sometimes would prefer to be left alone. From a young age, he was immersed in the world of opera, ballet, and theater. When he designed costumes and sets for theatrical productions, it was a lifelong desire that he was fulfilling. “Broadway’s in Fashion” is a fitting tribute to the legendary Broadway from a man who pursued the theatrical in everything he did. In 1978, Erté was honored by the Eugene O’Neill Foundation at a gala celebration in New York entitled “Broadway’s in Fashion” for which Erté designed the poster. This led to a CBS-TV film on Erté narrated by the legendary Diana Vreeland, and an exhibition of his costume designs at the Boston Center of the Arts. This sculpture, in scarlet and black, with white gold embellishments, incorporates the elements for which Broadway is best known. Her elegant and confident posture reveals her costume, which is itself an homage to Broadway – the scarlet robe with gold tassels evokes the stage curtain as it rises to reveal the first act, the male and female dancers, energetically giving their all for each performance, and the Greek masks of comedy and tragedy...

Cabaret, so evocative of cabaret-style shows, was a costume design for a 1940 production entitled 'Dream Waltz' by Oscar Strauss, based on a novella from 1905 by Hans Müller-Einingen...

Whether in the draping of a silk gown worn by an opera diva, or in the sparkle of an intricately beaded headdress worn by a woman of society, Erté had an exceptionally acute visual memory of every detail of his early design creations. It was no wonder then that his fashion designs were so adeptly applied to the sculpture format. In Mermaid, we have a fine example of how Erté carried the technical possibilities of the sculpture medium to a new level. This attention to detail added to his legend as one of the Twentieth Century’s foremost artist-designers, with work represented in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Paris Opera House, the Smithsonian Institution and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Through Mermaid, Erté takes us beyond the female form by choosing the intriguing legendary sea creature whose upper body is that of a woman, and whose lower body is that of an aquatic creature. In quintessential Erté style...

Demetre Haralamb Chiparus (also known as Dumitru Chiparus) (16 September 1886 in Dorohoi, Romania - 22 January 1947 in Paris, France) was a Romanian Art Deco* era sculptor who lived and worked in Paris. He was born in Romania, the son of Haralamb and Saveta. In 1909 he went to Italy, where he attended the classes of Italian sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. In 1912 he traveled to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts* to pursue his art at the classes of Antonin Mercie and Jean Boucher. Demetre Chiparus died in 1947 and was buried in Bagneux cemetery, just south of Paris. The first sculptures of Chiparus were created in the realistic style and were exhibited at the Salon of 1914. He employed the combination of bronze and ivory, called chryselephantine*, to great effect. Most of his renowned works were made between 1914 and 1933. The first series of sculptures manufactured by Chiparus were the series of the children. The mature style of Chiparus took shape beginning in the 1920s. His sculptures are remarkable for their bright and outstanding decorative effect. Dancers of the Russian Ballet, French theatre, and early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by a long, slender, stylized appearance. His work was influenced by an interest in Egypt, after Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb was excavated. He worked primarily with the Edmond Etling and Cie Foundry in Paris administrated by Julien Dreyfus. Les Neveux de J. Lehmann was the second foundry which constantly worked with Chiparus and produced the sculptures of his models. Chiparus rarely exhibited at the Salon. In 1923 he showed his Javelin Thrower, and in 1928 exhibited his Ta-Keo dancer. During the period of Nazi persecution and the World War II, the foundries discontinued production of work by Chiparus. The economic situation of that time was not favorable to the development of decorative arts and circumstances for many sculptors worsened. Since the early 1940s almost no works of Chiparus were sold, but he continued sculpting for his own pleasure, depicting animals in the Art Deco style. At the 1942 Paris Salon, the plaster sculptures Polar Bear and American Bison were exhibited, and in 1943 he showed a marble Polar Bear and plaster Pelican. Sculptures of Dimitri Chiparus represent the classical manifestation of Art Deco style in decorative bronze ivory sculpture. Traditionally, four factors of influence over the creative activity of the artist can be distinguished: Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ancient Egyptian art, and French theatre. Early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by figures with a long, slender, stylized appearance. Some of his sculptures were directly inspired by Russian dancers. Quite often, Chiparus used the photos of Russian and French dancers, stars and models from fashion magazines of his time. After the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, the art of ancient Egypt...

Albert Poncin’s Femme à la Panthère is a striking and elegant Art Deco bronze sculpture that perfectly encapsulates the movement’s characteristic blend of stylized modernity and clas...

A very rare bronze cast of two battling Rams, by Sirio Tofanari (1886-1969). An old cast with a dark brown shaded patina. On a heavy green marble steppe...

Wonderful sculpture in bronze titled "Petrouchka II" by contemporary New York City artist Martin Glick. Born in 1944, Martin Glick resides in Pomona, New York, just outside of New York City. He was taught by Conger Metcalf...