“Erté: Genius of Art Deco - The Return to St Petersburg” is a richly illustrated book published for an exhibition held at the Hermitage in St Petersburg during 2017, exhibiting a unique collection of more than 100 original gouache drawings by Erté (Romain de Tirtoff, 1892-1990). Erté, which settled in Paris after leaving St Petersburg in the 1910s, became one of the most sought after artist of the twentieth century. His designs and illustrations in the fashion and theatre world became classics. His elegant designs captured beautifully the Art Deco style of the time.

All the illustrated artworks in the book originated from large format transparencies. These were wet scanned achieving a formidable colour and detail rendition of the original gouache paints. Extensive colour work was undertaken to accommodate the out of gamut colours of the pure gouache pigments. A customised colour separation was utilised to reproduce the delicate and highly saturated colours. A paper back adaptation was later published for a subsequent exhibition at the Grosvenor Gallery in London. The printing of the two editions was performed on two distinctively different papers on 2 different continents, requiring a high degree of colour communication and management.

Published by Fontanka, designed by Christoph Stolberg.

Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
160 pages, hardback, 26 x 21 cm, 150 illustrations
ISBN: 978-1906257-24-8

Grosvenor Gallery, London
124 pages, softback, 26 x 21 cm, 120 illustrations
ISBN: 978-1906257-28-6