A recent acquisition is this 1927 British illustration -Astarte ,The Syrian Venus and Her Attendants -by the outstanding Russian-born French artist, Romain de Tirtoff (1892-1990) , known by the pseudonym of his initials , as pronounced by the French, Erte. The son of a Russian admiral, he moved to Paris, discovered the art nouveau drawings of Aubrey Beardsley , and became renowned for using art nouveau and deco in fashion, jewellery , interior decorating , his striking graphic design skills producing many covers of leading magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue and Illustrated London News.
Costumes he designed included those for The Ziegfeld Follies and Follies Bergere. In Hollywood, he designed sets and costumes for films including Ben Hur and The Restless Sex which starred Marion Davies , the film financed by the media magnate William Randolph Hearst.
