Romain de Tirtoff (Erté). Russian/French. 1892-1990.

Statue of Liberty (Day). 1986. Seriagraph with embossing and hand stamping. Image: 28 x 20. Series: Statue of Liberty Suite Edition 300, #248. Numbered in grey pencil, lower left; signed in white pencil, lower right. A fine impression printed on the full sheet. Housed in a decorated mat white with a gold lip and a stunning 48 x 38-inch Art Deco-style gold wood framed with a silver lip. Frame weight 20 pounds. $6,500 the pair

Lady Liberty, embossed and embellished, holds her torch high in gold against a daytime New York City skyline and the large golden disk of the sun. Faint silver buildings in the New York City skyline add detail and a sense of place. Metallic gold-tone foil adds shimmering highlights to the crests of the waves, as well as to Liberty’s torch and laurels.

Born in imperial St. Petersburg, Ertée derived his pen name from the French pronunciation of his initials 'R.T.' Over a long and distinguished career, he had a major influence on the style and design of the 20^th Century. Diversely talented, Erté was born in Saint Petersburg to a distinguished family with roots tracing back to 1548. At age 19, Eré left home and moved to Paris where he gained employment with the esteemed couturier, Poiret. Subsequently, he began the 22-year pursuit which would make him famous: creating cover art and illustrations for the magazine Harper's Bazaar , and thus launched an illustrious career that included designing costumes and stage sets. Between 1915-1937, Erté designed over 200 covers for Harper's Bazaar, and his illustrations would also appear in such publications as Illustrated London News, Cosmopolitan, Ladies' Home Journal, and Vogue. Erté flourished and was renowned in an array of fields, including fashion, jewelry, graphic art,s costume and set design for film, theater, and opera, and interior decor.

After designing apparel for the French dancer Gaby Deslys, Ertéé went on to design costumes, program designs, and sets which were featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923, many productions of the Folies Bergère, and George White's Scandals. On Broadway, the celebrated French chanteuse Irène Bordoni wore Erté's designs. His delicate figures and sophisticated, glamorous designs are instantly recognizable, and his ideas and art still influence fashion into the 21st century.