Pumps

Pierre Yantorny

1914–19 · leather, metal · Costume Institute

Pietro Yantorny (1874-1936), the self-proclaimed "most expensive shoemaker in the world", was a consummate craftsman utterly devoted to the art of shoemaking. Yantorny sought to create the most perfectly crafted shoes possible for a select and exclusive clientele of the most perfectly dressed people. Yantorny's shoes are particularly noted for the graceful curve of the instep, a feature the maker himself affirmed as being of utmost importance in a 1913 New York Times article. This pair of Colonial pumps was one of reportedly over 300 pairs of Yantorny shoes made for American socialite and patroness of the arts, Rita de Acosta Lydig (1880-1929).

Artist

Pierre Yantorny

Date

1914–19

Medium

leather, metal

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Mercedes de Acosta, 1953