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Greenwich, CT—The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will mount an exhibition of early 20th century theater costumes in December 2003, which will prominently feature spectacular opera costumes designed by Erté. The costumes, designed by Erté in the 1920s for opera legend Madame Ganna Walska, were acquired by the museum in 1987. After painstaking and extensive conservation, the museum is now able to exhibit the costumes to the public for the first time.
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| Erté with one his costume designs, circa 1920 |
Costumes present a unique challenge for museums; they require special care, maintenance, and storage. The Museum’s collection is quite unique, as this material is rarely available on any permanent display basis due to its fragility and vulnerability to light exposure. The exhibition will avail the public of an area of the artist’s creative endeavor that is seldom shown, presenting a concentration of Erté’s early work that is not as accessible or available as his graphic and sculptural work.
In his lifetime, Erté designed for fashion magazines—including a 22 year collaboration with Harper’s Bazaar magazine—costumes and stage sets for theater and film, and late in life created his collection of graphic prints and bronze sculpture. These achievements earned him the title “Father of Art Deco”, and his works continue to be highly sought after by discerning collectors of these art forms.
Martin Lawrence Galleries is a division of Chalk & Vermilion Fine Arts, publisher of the works of Erté. Along with its extensive collection of work of Erté, Martin Lawrence Galleries is proud to offer in 10 galleries nationwide the work original and graphic works of Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Sam Francis, Andy Warhol and Keith Haring along with those of a number of today’s most popular artists published by Chalk & Vermilion such as Liudmila Kondakova, Kerry Hallam, Thomas McKnight, Bruce Ricker and Fanny Brennan.
Martin Lawrence Galleries at Saks Fifth Avenue is open Monday-Saturday
10am-9pm, Sunday noon-6pm. For more information please call the gallery at (800) 950-1750. Other locations include New York City, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans, Maui, Newport Beach, Santa Clara, and Universal City/Los Angeles.
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