Art Scholars and collectors both love to argue about what artists were the most influential of the twentieth century. Strong cases have been made for many of the obvious candidates of course: Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenschtein, Salvador Dali, and many others. While this is a great company, let us make a case for a less obvious choice: Romain de Tirtoff, or more commonly known as Erte. Erte paintings and sculptures are some of the most iconic in the world today. But beyond the artist’s popularity, he has influenced nearly every aspect of popular culture both by defining a generation through his aesthetic while remaining popular today.
Erte lived from 1892 to 1990 and made an enormous impact on the global art scene during almost the entire duration of his life. He first came onto the scene notably in 1910 when he moved to Paris to become a designer. In 1915, he signed a contracted with the famous Harper’s Bazaar magazine where he would go on to paint over 200 covers. During the same time and into the 1920s and 30s he designed numerous costumes for actresses and opera stars. This
original artwork has a direct impact on the aesthetic of the time since ordinary women wanted to emulate the fashions seen on famous celebrities of the time. Erte’s covers and costumes also gained him much notoriety because of their unique style. Many people were fashion designers at the time, but Erte’s style was unique to him. It seemed to capture the essence of the generation and be in line with what they thought was beautiful and fashion forward. Erte is considered the father of the Art Deco movement.
The Art Deco aesthetic created by Erte’s original art would not only be influential in the art and fashion world- it would go on to define the entire generation. His point of view would go on to influence popular culture, architecture, cinema, books, and plays. While one can make a case for any number of twentieth century artists having immense influence over the art world, they are hard pressed to find someone with as much influence over society at large at Erte’s defining role in creating the Art Deco movement.
Many artists have made an impact on popular culture only to fall into the background once a new Avant Guard idea took over in art and society. Since artists and art collectors pride themselves on being on the cutting edge of what’s new it is hard for any individual artist to hold the heart of the community for long. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Art Deco aesthetic faded into the background and began be replaced with how new artistic expressions. Just at the mid-century modern aesthetic would go on to define the 1950s; Art Deco could have easily faded into the background only to become synonymous with the 1920s and 30s without much social relevance past its period based identity. But that was not the case for the Art Deco movement, or for Erte. They both proved their resilience and widespread public appreciation during the Art Deco resurgence of the 1960s. This period allowed the artist to experience a second period of immense popularity. Erte’s resurgence lasted until his death in 1990. In the later portion of his career, Erte bronze sculptures and Erte paintings became his most popular mediums. Today, Erte sculptures and paintings remain more popular than ever. The Art Deco movement created by Erte has seemingly done the possible: it has defined an era of the past while still remaining popular and socially relevant today.
