Page 52 - Studio International - September 1967

course of action has a value inherent in it which is
meaningful to the spectator as well as to the artist.
A large assumption, and certainly one which rules
out any kind of judgement on my part.
Judgement was equally helpless at the exhibition
of contemporary painting by Soviet artists which
the ROYAL ACADEMY showed in its Diploma
Gallery. The effect was rather as if the paintings
which hang at week-ends on the railings farther
up Piccadilly had moved a hundred yards east-
wards, and had then been taken indoors in order
not to frighten the buses. Some faint traces of
Bakst's influence were to be discerned—there was
often a feeble impulse towards art nouveau pattern-
ing. And one or two pictures offered evidence that
Soviet painters are now influenced by Gauguin
and Cézanne. Influence does not imply merit
however. When (in another place) I reviewed this
year's Annual Exhibition, the Academy took
umbrage, in a fashion which was all too predict-
able. Yet I can only repeat here more or less what
I said then : that no institution which shows work
of such a poor standard can hope to enjoy any
sort of respect from the members of my profession.

Hubert Dalwood Venus berg 1966
aluminium, 22¾ x 22¼ in.

Erté's designs evoke the Slavonic and fabulous
dream which has been for some time among the
more powerful sustaining myths of the world of
Folies and fashion. Born in Petrograd in 1892 he
came to Paris in 1912 and apprenticed himself to a
leading couturier before joining the staff of the
dress designer Paul Poiret. During the twenties he
designed for the theatre, working for, among
others, the Folies Bergère, the Ziegfeld Follies and
George White's Scandals in New York, as well as
for the Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera
houses. The exhibition at the GROSVENOR GALLERY
includes several theatre designs, principally for
American productions, and a score of covers for
Harper's Bazaar. Erté's work was included in the
recent Les Années 25 exhibition at the Musée des
Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

Erté 'The Rivers' Folies Bergères, The Guadalqunir
1923
gouache and metallic paint, 13¾ x 19½ in.