The Russian-born artist known for Art Deco fashion illustrations and stage designs was Erté. Born Romain Petrovich de Tirtoff in Saint Petersburg in 1892, he adopted the name Erté from the French pronunciation of his initials, R.T.
After moving to Paris, Erté built a career across fashion, illustration, costume, set design, jewelry, and graphic art. His elegant, elongated figures and carefully arranged geometric patterns became visual signatures of the Art Deco period. From 1915 through 1937, he designed more than 200 covers for Harper’s Bazaar, helping shape the magazine’s glamorous identity.
His stage work extended from revues and theatrical productions to opera, ballet, and film. He created costumes and sets for productions connected with the Ziegfeld Follies, Folies Bergère, and Hollywood cinema. His image “Symphony in Black,” showing a stylized woman with a black dog, became one of his most recognizable works.
Léon Bakst is a plausible distractor because he was also Russian-born and famous for theatrical design, especially for the Ballets Russes. However, Erté is the figure most specifically identified with Art Deco fashion illustration and its revival in the 1960s.