Gallant Women, 10 prints by Ernst Deutsch (1917)

No. 353 of 1000 copies. Folio with slipcase, collotypes mounted on card approximately 36 cms  x 28.3 cms, folio case shows wear, some prints detached at corners with tears otherwise condition: very good.,

 This work was produced in 1917 in a unique edition of 1000 copies in facsimile collotype at the Jaffé Art Institute, commissioned by the publisher Artur Wolf, Vienna, and the sheets were hand-colored. Original half-linen portfolio.

rnst Deutsch-Dryden (1887 in Vienna - 1938 in Los Angeles) was an Austrian costume designer and commercial artist. "The most elegant man who ever lived" is how film director Billy Wilder once described his friend. In 1926, Deutsch-Dryden took over the artistic direction of the fashion magazine "Die Dame", published by the German publishing house Ullstein. For this reason, he lived mainly in Paris from 1926 to 1933, where he was able to report on the latest trends as a "photojournalist". In 1933, he moved to the USA where, after working briefly in New York, he successfully made the transition from fashion illustrator to fashion designer in Hollywood. He was responsible for the costumes in numerous films, including "The Garden of Allah" (1936), "Lost Horizon" (1937) and "The Prisoner of Zenda" (1937).

Ernst Dryden was one of the most important fashion and graphic designers and graphic artists of his generation. If you read his vita today, it is surprising to see how much and how easily Dryden moved in the world. He was active in commercial sectors and was driven from metropolis to metropolis in the indefatigable hunt for trends. The dogma in all of his work can be summed up in one word: elegance. The meticulous Dryden worked restlessly and uncompromisingly on all the details of his creations so that they ultimately appear elegant, effortless and easy. He not only preached these ideals, but also lived them himself, earning him the title of the most elegant man who ever lived from prominent personalities of the day.