About the Artist

1892-1990

Romain de Tirtoff, also known with his pseudonym Erté was a Russian-born French painter, sculptor, and designer. Erté was one of the most important proponents of the Art Déco movement. He was a decorator and a fashion designer, as well as a jewellery and set designer and a magazine illustrator. By far, his best-known image is Symphony in Black, depicting a somewhat stylized, tall, slender woman draped in black holding a thin black dog on a leash. The influential image has been reproduced and copied countless times.