Page 25 - Studio International - April 1973

Erté's covers A serious absolutely as art, makes one pose a fundamental
question: the question of art as art. Only from
exhibition: a this question — and in so far as artists and
Erté's cover for Studio's Both number does not thinkers submit to, make use of and take heed
merely record a shared longevity — it also backward look at of it, according to their respective modes of
emphasizes the remarkable career of the working — can emerge art which encloses the
Russian-born artist as a cover designer. Born in Documenta 5 II gallery. Only with reference to this question
St Petersburg in 1892, he left for Paris at the does it become possible to call the gallery into
age of 20, ostensibly to study architecture at the question and go beyond it as the sole
Ecole des Beaux Arts but in fact worked with the determinant of the meaning of art, for only the
famous courturier Paul Poiret. The outbreak of question of art taken as such — taken as a
the 1914 war, and an illness which required [In the first part of his article (March issue), question — can give back meaning to the word
Erté's removal to Monte Carlo, led to a new René Denizot argued that Documenta 5, held at art and what it designates.
career as a fashion illustrator. During his Kassel last summer — and which he described as But asking 'What is art ?' is not simply a turn
convalescence a friend suggested submitting `a serious exhibition', of perfect appearance — by of phrase, an excuse for yet one more answer;
cover-designs to the American fashion its exemplary nature and careful selection made in this sense the art gallery is the last word in
magazine Harper's Bazar (as it was then spelt). of the gallery 'an iron collar'. As such it both extreme confusion. That is why art emerges as a
To Erté's surprise they used his first maquette became 'a work sufficient unto itself' and, by question. The question of art, then, means the
for the issue of January 1915. Entitled enclosing the artist, disclaimed the myth of the attentive understanding of what must be
Scheherazade, a charming concoction in pink dissenting artist. thought under the word art, in so far as it is art
and blue, the plumed headdress, stylized roses The second part of his article appears here which reveals itself as essentially worthy of
and half-naked Eastern slave, all reflect the under its original title. One of the works by questioning, and that it is the very being of art
influence of the Ballets Russes. The magazine Buren to which reference is made was which is intended as language and appears
then began using his illustrations, but when reproduced on p. 118 of the March issue of as such in the form of a work. But the
their rival Vogue evinced an interest in the Studio International.] work is then essentially questioning: it is the
brilliant young designer Harper's put him under questioning manifestation, the execution of art
a ten-year contract — regularly extended until At Documenta 5 the artists were accorded as question. The work in this sense is a true
1936. Erté's work for Harper's Bazar made him the role of participants, which befitted them, work, it emerges as such in relation to that
famous in the United States, and led to his alongside children and the mentally deficient which determines it in its own right, and
collaboration with Ziegfield and George White whose pictorial productions were also reveals itself as the index of its own emergence.
on Broadway, and later Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer represented, together with political posters, It confronts us in relation to itself as a
in Hollywood. religious iconography, Der Spiegel covers, manifestation of its horizon, that is to say as an
The second Erté cover for Harper's, banknotes, science fiction, etc. The opening of the open in the midst of which it
November 1915, began a continuous monthly organization of the exhibition gave each group emerges as such and which it reveals in
run until May 1935, when the new Editor its place, and as much space as it required. revealing itself. Such is its truth, that is to say
Carmel Snow, and her art adviser Alexey In the face of so much good will, the artists its unveiling. Such a work does not depend on
Bradovitch, took the momentous step to replace could only accept with good grace and take the any point of view exterior to itself, but is its
cover drawings by photographs. This was place allotted to them if they still wished to difference. As a consequence, it is essentially
against the wishes of the publisher, William appear as artists. It wasn't possible to appear didactic and critical.
Randolph Hearst, an admirer of Erté's gifts, but here as a 'star'. Everyone was reduced to the Thus criticism and escape from the gallery
he could not avert that particular 'wind of ranks in the gallery school. No doubt can only be achieved with a true work which
change'. established artists such as Carl André, by its own necessity escapes from the ideological
Erté contributed illustrations and covers to Robert Morris, Judd and Flavin felt this; they enclosure of the gallery and reveals it as an
many other journals — in France, Art et Industrie, refused to participate on the grounds that there ideologically closed field, that is to say as
Femina, L' Illustration, Plaisir de France, Le was no place for their work in the categories political formalism, a mere vacant alibi,
Gaulois Artistique; in Britain The Sketch and laid down. In so doing they did not escape designated by the name of art but dedicated to
Illustrated London News; in America Vogue and the gallery ascendancy, and committed a the play of appearances, to dressing and
Women's Home Journal, and more recently tactical error, because these categories, by display under cover of which reality is only a
Opera. It is however the unique series for bringing all the works down to the same matter of words.
Harper's, over a period of nearly twenty years, standard, in fact had no importance whatsoever In so far as the questioning force of the work,
which are of supreme importance. The first in themselves. By refusing, one implied that by the inherent strength which makes it
decade is marked by the balletic elegance of the one's work would not stand up to these necessary, can call into question the museum
figures in decidedly anecdotal situations — so constraints and so admitted one's dependence and the ideology which it represents,
much so that the contents pages carried on the gallery. executing a work for the artists as for the critic,
miniature scenarios in which Erté explained the each in his respective medium, means acting in an
dramatic or moral undertones of covers bearing Therein lay the whole interest of essentially political manner, in a relationship
such titles as The Enchantress, Love's Captive, Documenta 5 — it allowed no escape either which is revealed by the action. The political
La Toilette de la Nature, The Unfeeling Heart. through the subterfuges of artistic work or the reality of the action is that imposed by the
From 1924 a new spirit is afoot; after richly hedgings of criticism. There was only one way necessity of the work as its own power of
gowned oriental-looking ladies he moves on to of circumscribing Documenta 5 and escaping exposure, i.e. of destruction with regard to any
boyish flappers in simplified, humorous from the totalitarian grip of the gallery, and that reactionary order. That is why, every time the
situations, and by the thirties Erté's style has was by showing that the sufficiency of the established order is exhibited and affirmed
moved away dramatically from Bakstian gallery in relation to art in its practice did not more radically, as was the case with D5 at Kassel,
exotica to cool, formal, sophisticated make it necessary in relation to art itself. there is also an opportunity for the true work to
arrangements influenced by jazz, Cubism and Enclosing art in the gallery structure, the demonstrate more openly its need forcibly to
the New York skyline. q ultimate instance in which art appears denounce the futility of an order whose
CHARLES SPENCER absolutely as institution and disappears obvious rigour and intransigence are

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