Up for auction we have an

Original Erte Serigraph

Titled:

"Trapeze Artist"

#

143/300

Signed by the Artist Erte in Pencil

Here are the Specific Details followed by the Artist's Biography:

Title: Trapeze Artist
Year: Circa 1980’s
Medium: Serigraph, Signed and Numbered in Pencil
Edition: 143/300
Framed Size: 27.5 x 33.75 inches
Image Area Size: 16.5 x 21.25 in.
Starting Auction price: $895.00 Buy it now: $2400.00

Please note that the serigraph is in mint condition. The frame and plexiglass are rough but still presentable. I cannot find the original certificate of authenticity that came with this serigraph, but did have it at one time. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, you have 7 days to return it after buying!

Artist's Biography:

Erte, Russian (1892- 1990)

Erte was born Romain de Tirtoff in St. Petersburg, Russia. As the only son of an admiral in the Imperial Fleet, Erte was raised amidst Russia's social elite. As a young boy, he was fascinated by the Persian miniatures on display in his father's library. The exotic, brightly patterned designs of these miniatures became an important influence in the development of his style. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Paris and took the name Erte, from the French pronunciation of his initials, R and T.

Erte began his long relationship with Harper's Bazaar in 1915, during which time he created over 240 covers for the magazine. His fashion designs also appeared in many other publications, making him one of the most widely recognized artists of the 1920s. He also designed costumes and sets for the theater. In 1976 the French government awarded Erte the title of Officer of Arts and Letters, and in 1982 the Medaille de Vermeil de la Ville de Paris was bestowed upon him. His work is in many prominent museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The designs created by Erté 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 evident in his enormous body of work that is considered to be among the most influential and unique of the 20th century. Erté—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 the early 1900's when Erté moved to Paris, his unique talent was immediately recognized by the city’s most established couturiers. And in 1915 when he began an association with Harper’s Bazaar, he designed the covers of each of their magazines for the next 22 years. As a result of the high visibility of this periodical, the style of his work influenced an entire art movement that was to become known as “Art Deco”. Throughout this time, Erte 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 extravagent 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-Bergères and George White’s Scandals.

At the age of 75, Erté began to recreate the remarkable designs of his youth in bronze and serigraphy. The Art Deco movement was then reborn. A lifetime of international success and recognition has ensured Erte's place in art history, and his original designs are in 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.

Erté is best remembered for the gloriously extravagant costumes and stage sets that he designed for the Folies-Bergère in Paris and George White's Scandals in New York, which exploit to the full his taste for the exotic and romantic, and his appreciation of the lyrical human figure. Erté also designed for the opera and the traditional theatre, and spent a brief and not wholly satisfactory period in Hollywood in 1925, at the invitation of Louis B. Mayer, head of Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer.

After a period of relative obscurity in the 1940s and 1950s, Erté's characteristic style found a new and enthusiastic market in the 1960s, and the artist responded to renewed demand by creating a series of colorful lithographic prints and sculpture. This luxuriously illustrated museum contains a rich and representative selection of images, drawn from throughout Erté's long and extraordinary productive career.

Thank you for looking and good luck bidding.

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