The great “prince of music hall” and “mirror of fashion for 75 years” (as Roman Petrovich Tyrtov was called after his death in 1990) was born into an old noble family (originating from Khan Tyrt).
Roman was the only heir of a lieutenant general of the navy, who headed the Marine Engineering School in St. Petersburg from 1908 to October 1917; but the boy did not want to be a military man – he dreamed of becoming an artist…
Having left for Paris in 1906 to fulfill his dream, Roman entered the Academy of Fine Arts, but studied there for a short time. He was more attracted to museums and galleries, cabarets and cubists, fashion magazines and the backstage of fashionable Parisian houses.
Having sent several sketches of clothes to the Fashion House of Paul Poiret, he received an invitation to work as a designer of the house in 1912. Roman Tyrtov became famous in the fashion and social circles of Parisian society and began working as a special correspondent for the St. Petersburg fashion magazine “Ladies’ Fashions”.
In order, in his words, “not to disgrace the family”, he took a pseudonym (having tried several others before) ERTE, combining the first letters of his first and last names in the French manner.
In 1913, he created costumes for Mata Hari (as is known, this lady loved to dance half- or completely naked at “private” concerts) in Le Minaret.
In 1915-1916, the artist, who did not receive a systematic art education, began collaborating with fashion magazines Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and others.
In 1916, ERTE created the design for the music hall for Mistinguette in the Bataclan and Gaby Deslys in the Theatre Femina, and in 1917-1930, costumes for the Folies – Bergere.
In the 1920s, ERTE declared himself an accomplished fashion designer, proposing the principle of uniform modeling of women’s and men’s clothing (the so-called “unisex” style), which gained particular popularity several decades later. In 1921, ERTE offered fashionistas a dress with an asymmetrical neckline.
At the same time, he designed a number of ballet numbers for Anna Pavlova, productions of the Chicago Opera.
In 1925, having moved from Paris to America, ERTE signed a contract with the Hollywood film company Metro Goldwyn Mayersi and became the most famous American costume designer of that time.
The creative energy and versatility of ERTE’s talent are simply amazing!
In the 60s, he began to replicate his drawings from the 20s and 30s using lithography, and then serigraphy, including the “Alphabet” series (created in the 20s of the last century).
The first album “Numbers” was released in 1968, which later formed the basis for original playing cards made by order of the tobacco companies Dunhill and Gallagher.
In the 60s, ERTE “fell ill” with sculpture – and masterpieces began to emerge from under his fingers as a three-dimensional embodiment of past drawings; sculptures were created almost until the last years of his life.
But the great ERTE did not stop there – in 1979 he “launched” a limited collection of jewelry “Art to Wear”, made from his drawings of the 20-30s of the last century, including the “alphabet” and “digital” series.
These jewelry pieces were made for The Circle of Fine Art (CFA) gallery, but now these pieces can be purchased, although they are extremely rare at specialized auctions (prices for a necklace start at $6,000).
Authentic ERTE jewelry is made of 14-karat gold, sterling silver (or a combination of these precious metals), rubies, diamonds, topazes, amethysts and citrines, mother-of-pearl, lapis lazuli and black onyx could also be used.
