Featured A tantalizing mystery

Picked up these two watercolor fashion drawings at a local thrift recently. The first is clearly signed, Fern Andree. The second, more accomplished drawing dated 1924, has been trimmed at the bottom. I can make out, To Fern Andree on the left. The signature on the right is only minimally present.




My research has found a famous silent film star, director, and producer named Fern Andree, born Vernal Edna Andrews less than 100 miles from here. She later, more famously, used the name Fern Andra. Ironically, her fame came first in Germany where she also became the Dowager Baroness von Weichs. She later became branded a spy and returned to the US. She was clearly a woman of many talents who led an interesting life.

Secondly, I have found a Fern Andree from a small town south of St. Louis who would have been about 15 when the second drawing was done. She appears to have been unmarried and living with her parents in 1940.

….. so are these drawings linked to a famous woman or a lonely spinster? …. LOL! Any other Fern Andree candidates? Who is the mystery illustrator? Looks a bit like the work of Paul Poiret but doesn't seem to be a match. Any and all comments welcome.

 

is that a siggy....lower right of the rug???

 

Date: 1924

 

Maybe it's not signed, more labeled, the first depicting her, not by her. ('Her' being the silent film star.) Second could be her in some role she did. She sounds like Irene Adler, the American adventuress.

 

I like the second one.

The Fern Andree signature looks very hesitant, not fluid, someone who had to concentrate on control. It looks like it might be done by a child, maybe a tween.

Maybe the second one was a gift to an aspiring designer.

 

That's a large part of what makes me think it is a label, not a signature. But the printing is too 'arty' for a child of the day, when penmanship was a serious school subject. This is the writing of someone who worked on having their own style.

 

I'm finding a Fern Andra, not a Fern Andree.

 

I disagree that it's too arty for a child, especially one trying to emulate an adult.

 

Very nice find

 

The first one puts me in mind of costume designs.

 

The second one is marked TO Fern Andree rather than by her. It's an illustration from something or other and she may well have been the model. The top one is a drawing who knew how to draw clothes but not faces, odds are it's amateur. Those dresses are straight out of the 30s rather than the 20s. Not as sure of the color one.

 

That signature on the RIGHT in the pink dress drawing.......the first letter looks like an "L"............but that's all I've got.........Lynda? Lydia?

 

Fern Andra used Fern Andree as her stage name in at least her first two pictures. By 1924 she was using Fern Andra professionally. Hard to say if she used Fern Andree privately or ever again. She was a woman who had several names throughout her life and appeared to use them all to her advantage. She was married 4 times but continued to use her Baroness moniker throughout her life.

 

maybe a designer....showing her styles...for an outfit ???

 

That is an interesting problem. Have you de-framed the fashion illustration to see if there's anything written/marked on back?

Debora

 

Nothing on the backs.