From Library Journal

This handsome autobiography of the 97-year-old Erte tells the colorful life story of an artist whose career was synonymous with chic illustration. Indeed, Erte's covers for Harper's Bazaar were early, groundbreaking forms of the Art Deco style. Aided by representative designs and graphics, effectively reproduced, Erte here chronicles his extensive costume and set design work and offers vivid stories of his many friendships with celebrities from Hollywood and Paris. Much of the text concerns the artist's popular graphic and sculptural work from the last 20 years. The richness of Erte's recollections make this a lively and informative book that will be in demand for both general and specialized library collections.

-Paula A. Baxter, NYPL

Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

The story of Erte's life is a chronicle of the worlds of fashion, theater, and elegance in the Twentieth Century. In My Life/My Art (for Erte his life is his art, and vice versa) he takes us through these worlds introducing us in words and photographs to the fabulous people he has known: Poret, Mata Hari, William Randolph Hearst, George White, Lucrezia Bori, Louis B. Mayer, Ramon Novarro, Joan Crawford, Claudette Colbert, Elsa Schiaparelli, Cecil Beaton, Diaghilev, Billy Rose, Barbra Streisand, and amny more. This volume absorbs and updates Erte's 1874 memoir Things I Remember and brings the story up to the present.