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Manon (Deuxième Tableau, #7), 1920
Price on Request
Details
Medium: gouache on paper
Year: 1920
Sheet size: 11.75 x 9.75"
Image size: 11.75 x 9.75"
Framed size: 20 x 18.25"
Signature: signed 'Erté' center right, titled, numbered and stamped verso
Year: 1920
Sheet size: 11.75 x 9.75"
Image size: 11.75 x 9.75"
Framed size: 20 x 18.25"
Signature: signed 'Erté' center right, titled, numbered and stamped verso
About the Work
"Manon (Deuxième Tableau, #7)" is a gouache on paper painting created by Erté in 1920. The artwork is signed 'Erté' center right, and numbered and titled in Erté's hand verso - "Manon Deuxième tableau No 7 VIII - 1920 Pour Mme ganna Walska'. It is stamped with Erté's name and address along with the 'Composition originale' stamp verso. The artwork ships framed in a custom closed-corner Art Deco frame and has a framed size of 20 x 18.25".
Created in 1920, Erté’s "Manon (Deuxième Tableau, #7)" is a refined early costume gouache that brings together theatrical purpose, historical imagination, and the artist’s unmistakable Art Deco stylization. Rather than functioning as a generic image of period elegance, the work is clearly tied to performance: the verso identifies the subject, scene designation, number, date, and notes “Pour Mme Ganna Walska,” linking the design to one of the most glamorous figures associated with Erté’s early career.
The subject is Manon Lescaut, the celebrated heroine of Abbé Prévost’s 18th-century story and its later operatic adaptations. Manon was an ideal vehicle for Erté: romantic, worldly, seductive, and tragic, she allowed him to interpret 18th-century French dress through the sharper visual language of the 1920s. Here, he does not simply recreate Rococo costume; he filters it through line, symmetry, and decorative rhythm.
The figure stands against a deep black ground, giving the image the immediacy of a stage entrance. Her voluminous bluish-gray skirt is framed by golden-yellow ribbons and orange floral garlands, while two circular medallions contain paired white doves. Those details are not merely ornamental. They suggest courtship, innocence, and romantic longing, while the richness of the gown evokes Manon’s attraction to luxury and social display. This tension between sweetness and artifice is central to the character and gives the costume more narrative depth than decoration alone.
Erté’s design is especially effective because it balances period reference with graphic clarity. The fitted bodice, square neckline, full skirt, and elaborate sleeves evoke 18th-century fashion, but the execution is unmistakably modern: flattened forms, crisp contours, stylized hands, decorative repetition, and a controlled palette. The curling yellow ribbons animate the costume, creating movement across the figure while preserving the poise and symmetry that make the image so visually memorable.
The inscription to Ganna Walska adds particular significance. Walska was an important soprano, social figure, and patron whose association with Erté produced a number of striking costume designs. Her name on the verso gives the gouache a direct link to the theatrical and social world in which Erté’s early reputation was formed. Along with the artist’s stamp and “composition originale” stamp, the verso documentation strengthens the work’s identity as an original design sheet with clear historical context.
Within the market for Erté’s original gouaches, "Manon" is well positioned. Its scale is consistent with the intimate format in which he typically worked, while its strength lies in date, subject, execution, documentation, and performance association. Early theatrical gouaches with named connections are among the most compelling areas of Erté’s work, and this example offers both visual charm and meaningful provenance. It captures Erté at the intersection of costume, theater, fashion, and fantasy—the very territory in which his art remains most persuasive.
About the Artist
Manon (Deuxième Tableau, #7), 1920
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$78,850.00
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