The Seasons, Spring 

Erté created this print, called The Seasons, Spring, using gouache and ink. Here, Erté visualizes spring as a stylized woman-tree. Her body, with her delicate face, becomes the trunk of the tree. The branches morph into arms, reaching up towards the light, which radiates from below. The stylized rendering of the figure and birds is typical of the Art Deco style, which reached its height in Paris in the 1920s and 30s. Erté worked as a costume and set designer for the Parisian stage, as well as producing cover illustrations for magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, and this theatrical influence is clear. The decorative, stylized imagery of Art Deco was embraced by commercial culture for its perceived elegance and modernity. Erté’s work can be seen as both celebrating and critiquing the social conventions of the time through its engagement with the developing world of commercial art. To understand this artwork fully, we might explore magazines and theatre programs from the time. The meaning of art is always shaped by its social context.