Erté, Eternally Elegant
Did you know Erté – the incredibly talented Russian-born fashion and stage designer of the early twentieth century – made up his own name? His full name was Romain de Tirtoff (or Roman Petrovich Tyrtov in Russian), and he took ‘Erté’ from the French pronunciation of his initials. Clever, huh? Very post-post-post modern of him, when you think of today’s celebrity acronyms like JLo and the heinous TomKat. (Any serious journalist who employs that term should be immediately sent to Coventry. But then, look at me, writing alliterative headlines!)
He was his own best publicist too, often wearing his own designs with theatrical flair. Most famously he donned a toreador outfit of gold lamé for an opera ball in Paris in 1926. He told Time magazine in 1982: “That night, the huge cape I designed was completely lined with fresh red roses which I tossed, one by one, at my audience as I descended the grand staircase.” [fashionising.com]
Erté (1892–1990) was born in St Petersburg, and designed his first costume at the age of five. He moved to Paris in 1912, and went on to fulfil his dream of becoming a fashion illustrator, contracting with Harper’s Bazaar, contributing to it for 22 years. Probably best-known for the elegant, sinuous flappers of his Art Deco drawings, Erté also designed gloriously extravagant costumes and sets for the Foliès-Bergere in Paris and White’s Scandals in New York.
In fact, it was exactly the predominantly black drawing (top) that came to my mind last Tuesday in Sydney, when I happened upon just such a fan hat as this lady is wearing. I’ll leave the entertaining story of how I got it through airport security for another time, but suffice it to say mine is at least two-and-a-half times bigger – literally a metre wide and dancing with ostrich plumes. I can now have all the private Erté moments at home I want, whenever I feel like it.
Read more or peruse the galleries of Erté’s beautiful work at the official website.
Images from fashionising.com
Picasso’s Pictures from Paris
The Village Dance (1922)I’ve never been a massive Picasso fan, I must say. I don’t love Cubism (although in the context of its time, I admire its principles), and drip paintings don’t do it for me (gasp!). I really like his line drawings though, and I was bummed I ran out of time to visit the Picasso museum in Barcelona last year. So since I was going to be in Sydney last week anyway, I thought I ought to view the Picasso exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW (now closing in a few days). The work is from the Musée National Picasso, Paris, so I would not have seen these pieces in Spain anyway.
Paul as Harlequin (1924)
Nude with crossed legs (1905)I really enjoyed some of his earlier works: those that looked unfinished, rendered in pencil and charcoal on canvas, such as the delicate lines that trace the form of Nude with crossed legs (1905), and manage convey so much with so little; and the pictures of his wife Olga and his son Paul, dressed as a harlequin. There is a beautiful contrast between the highly finished face and sketched feet and table of the latter – the same technique applied to the portrait of Olga.
Possibly my favourite piece was The Village Dance (1922). Gorgeous overhead light creates luminous highlights, dramatic shadows and voluptuous forms. There is a lovely texture inherent to the medium and surface of fixed pastel and oil on canvas.
Massacre in Korea (1951)Another painting that transfixed me with its power was Massacre in Korea (1951). Reminiscent of Goya’s The Third of May 1808, the contrast between naked women and children and machine-like executionist soldiery is shocking and terrifying in its brutality and emotion.
War and Peace (1952)From his drawings, a lovely pen, wash, India ink on paper titled Man in a mask, woman with a child in her arms particularly caught my eye. Although I couldn’t find it online, War and Peace (right) is another example of Picasso’s spare and elegant linework.
Scroll down for some more of my favorites.
Portrait of Olga (1918) in an armchair uses the same ‘unfinished’ technique as in Paul as Harlequin
In Landscape with two figures (1908) the figures are camouflaged in the trees by their very chiseled form, while the opening through trees frames a spare view of rocky mountain
The whimsical The bathers (1918) employs a delicate, light touch, its stripes and warm light contrasting with the cool ground
Jacqueline with crossed hands (1954) – a lovely colour palette and strong black lines delineate a chunky figure, obelisk like, carved from stone. (I love the yellow and white stripes.)
A Starr is Born
Well it’s been a while since we last heard from the contestants of the Inter-Universe Beauty Pageant. Today we have the Misses Starr, Moon, and Amazon.
I have to laugh at the descriptive blurbs I’ve given for these lasses’ home planets: Miss Starr says, “I live near the Milky Way. My only companion is Miss Comet, but she is always moving. Shining is boring but views of old Earth are interesting.” Her outfit is composed of many petals, and that afterthought is her arm waving graciously to us, not a giant paintbrush.
Our lunar visitor Miss Lisa Brown, much prefers Earth to her home on the desolate satellite, except for the fact that there are far more poisonous things on Earth. Guess she wasn’t thinking about the lack of atmosphere on the moon. Can’t say much about her sense of style either!
Miss Amazon informs us that Amazon is like Earth, so she really doesn’t have much else to say – except for the fact that all the men were stolen in a war with II Amazon, so she doesn’t know much about those strange creatures. I think she is so tanned because, being an Amazon, she spends all her time outdoors, horseback riding and the like.
Check out the Galaxy Gallery for earlier contestants.
Mesmerising Morocco
Crossing the Straits of Gibraltar :: John S // Pistil // No flash
On the thirteenth of June last year I fulfilled a life-long ambition: I sailed across the Straits of Gibraltar, from Algeciras in Spain to Tangier, Morocco.
Where did this ambition come from? It was founded on nothing other than romance. As a child I must have read of those narrow Straits – separating two vastly different continents – and dreamed of one day travelling to that exotic part of the world. Or perhaps I first watched Casablanca at an extremely impressionable age.
I love to travel to countries so extremely different from my own homeland – there are so many fascinating details to take in: strange sights, enticing scents and cacophonies of sounds, and languages foreign to my ears. Even the quality of light is so different to living under the unforgiving Australian sun. Everywhere I look there is something that offers an intriguing glimpse into another world.
Everywhere I look there is something that offers an intriguing glimpse into another world.
Out of a thousand memorable moments, one in particular makes me smile fondly. I speak only a little French (which is a pity since I speak even less Arabic), and one night in a Marrakeshi restaurant I accidentally ordered avocado ice cream – because I didn’t know the French word for avocado. I was inwardly horrified when I realised, but of course pretended that I had all along meant to order this revolting dessert (only the figs saved it from being completely wasted). Worse than green tea ice cream in my estimation.
The Detestable Dessert :: Bettie XL // Big Up // No flashI chuckled at the time though, because I knew it would make that evening far more memorable than if I had ordered chocolate ice cream. There were other memorable moments from that night: getting lost in the souq, the boy who showed me the way to the hidden French restaurant and demanded an inquitious sum of money, the walk back to the Djemaa el-Fna through very dark and dubious back allies … but the avocado ice cream was unique.
Clowning Around
Girls in pierrot costume, 1920s; from ‘maclancy’ on Etsy (photograph sold)
A little while ago, when I came across these adorable vintage shoes on Etsy, I was inspired to hunt around for other historical uses of pompoms. This lead me on a trail of Pierrots.
Pierrot is the sad clown of pantomime, originating in the late 17th century with the Comédie-Italienne, a troupe of players. He pines his heart away for love of Columbine, who more often than not abandons him for her lover, Harlequin. He is characterised of course with this most familiar costume of a loose white blouse with large buttons (or pompoms) and wide pantaloons. Sometimes he sports an Elizabethan-style frilled collaret, and at times a black skullcap.
Scroll down to see my favourite of the vintage Pierrots I discovered, all clad in variations of this delightful costume. (Click for larger images.*)
Pierrot and Columbine; from allsorts.typepad.com
Poster; from scrapologie.blogs.com
Carnevale, 1956; from ‘mario 044’ on Flickr
Illustration by Frances Brundage, 1908; from www.vintagepostcards.org
Clowns from Le Marseillaise Studio; from clowningaround.tumblr.com
Pierrot dancer, 1930; my-ear-trumpet.tumblr.com
Edwardian girl; from ‘lovedaylemon’ on Flickr
Actress Madge Rossmore; from scrapologie.blogs.com
Pierrot laughing, 1855; from www.metmuseum.org
Pierrot with his Columbine, 1920; from eclektic.tumblr.com*Apologies, I cannot supply two links with images saved as thumbnails. Please contact me if you would like the exact URL.