Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1991 - 40

Illustrations: The Erte
Icon-<:ool, detached,
composed and smart.
Original renderings by
Erte for several of the
show curtains from
"Les Noces de
Diamant" performed
at the Folies-Bergeres
(1927). Erte carefully
enfolds the living
human being and the
draperies into a single
architectonic
statement.

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'"c'
inrellecrualisr approach. The inreresr of
rhe subscribing anisrs was in surface
rrearmenr, rhe pure srraighr line, flar
surface areas and large blocks of highly
sarurared colors.' To rhe Deco anisr, rhe
purpose of a work of an was irs
composirion, nor irs funcrion. Ir was
sufficienr rhar a chair looked good
wherher ir were comfonable or nor. 4
Clorhing, rhe design of which was (Q
bring Ene grear fame, was a special focus
of An Deco, for rhese early modernisrs
grasped inruirively, as Ann Hollander
poinrs our, rhar Wesrern clorhing has
always been "a form of self-perperuaring
visual ficrion, like figurarive an irself"; In
shon, "Wesrern clorhing is nor rhe
sequence of direcr social and aesrheric
messages casr in a language of fabric," nor,
indeed, a human emorional message.
Insread, ir is an idealized and inrellecrual
manipularion of rhe fashion designer. 6
Like rhe orher supposedly funcrional
irems-cups, dishes, chairs, office
buildings--creared by An Deco designers,
clorhing revealed rhe designer, nor rhe
human user. Ene was me very exemplar of
rhis approach. As Roland Barrhes nores, in
Ene's "fashion drawings, in all his
cosrumes for rhe rhearre, in all his work,
dress is no longer a funcrion bur a sign,
assuming in irself me characrerisrics of rhe
\vearer."-

In a sense, all rhearrical cosrumes
38

1991

WINTER

TD&T

funcrion ro funher characrer and ir IS a
rruism of me rhearre rhar many an acror
has creared a characrer counesy of his or
her cosrume. Bur Ene, as a rhearrical
designer, rook mis approach ro a differem
dimension. The human form [Q Ene
became merely an armarure ro suppon his
elaborare cosrume fanrasies; even his
fashion drawings used models ro display
me brilliance of his clothing designs, nor
(Q make rhe woman wearing rhe arrire
more arrracrive. Of course, Ene never
envisioned an ineleganr person wearing his
clorhing.
By rhe early Twenties, Ene had worked
our an approach which he called rhe
"cosrume collecrif," an innovarion he
claimed as his own. This pracrice begins as
early as 191 1 in a design for an imaginary
baller, rwo years before his rhearrical debur
in 1913 8 Firsr used in a producrion called
" The Seas" ar Thearre des Ambassadeurs,
rhe "cosrume collecrif" is described by
Ene as exrensions of rhe cosrume worn by
rhe main characrer linked ro a group of
secondary characrers."
Throughour rhe '20s and '30s, Ene's
peculiar vision became rhe norm as he
became rhe cosrume and decor designer
mosr often associared wirh me Max Weldy
Srudios. Weldy had a corner on rhe Paris
Music Hall marker. From rhe FoliesBergere ro rhe smaller rhearres and clubs,
rhe enrenainers of Paris were sramped

wirh rhe look of Erre. Nor every cosrume
nor every ensemble-decor was done by
Ene, for indeed young cosrume anisrs
were plenriful in Paris (Freddy Wirrop,
Zig, Alec Shanks, Dolly Tree) and rhey
would larer be forces in rheir own righc
Bur ir is nor an exaggerarion ro say rhar
Paris of rhe '20s and '30s belonged-in a
visual sense ar leasr-ro me school of Ene.
"We all rried ro be like Ene," said Freddy
Wirwp of his early years with me Weldy
Srudio.'·
And (Q be complerely like Ene meanr
[Q envision rhe enrire scene and rhe
performers as one single unified sculprural
or archirecrural image, me enrire force of
which gained exciremenr from irself alone,
nor in any way from rhe psychology of
dranuric characrer or acrion. In shon, rhe
srage became one wirh painring,
archirecrure and sculprure, a rrue icon in
bom me ancienr and conremporary sense.
Ene himself has confessed in his
memoirs (Q a love of archirecrure, of
sculprure and of absrracr as opposed ro
picrorial are" One of Ene's lamenrs is rhar
he did nor follow mrough on his inreresr
in absrracr sculprure. He records in his
memoirs a profound vision he had of an
absrracr shape enrirely "composed of
sparkling, shimmering colors."" He was ro
arrempr (Q execure rhis vision firsr in
cardboard, rhen in various sheer merals
painred wirh oils.
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 1991
