Untitled (Figure in fringed blue bustier over black sheer gown by Carl Ericson, aka Eric), 1927

Carl Erickson was born in Joliet, Illinois in 1891. He studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and freelanced for local Chicago department stores. In 1914, Erickson moved to New York City to continue his career as a freelance illustrator. After the first World War, Erickson moved to Paris and lent his talents to French publications. Erickson became a staff illustrator for Vogue magazine in 1923. In 1940, Erickson moved back to New York and focused his energies on American publications. He has been called “the Toulouse-Lautrec of America”. A year after his death, in 1958, the Brooklyn Museum held a retrospective show of his drawings.