The illustrator and designer Ernst Dryden was born Ernst Deutsch in 1887 to Hungarian parents in Vienna. After studying under the symbolist artist Gustav Klimt, Dryden moved to Berlin and immersed himself in the flourishing poster art scene. His sharp and elegant style was naturally suited to the commercial art field at the time, and the adverts he produced for shoes, typewriters and restaurants were highly successful.

After the First World War he returned to Vienna, changed his name to Ernst Dryden, and expanded into fashion design. His reputation flourished. In Paris, Dryden produced illustrations for the fashion and arts magazine Die Dame, and advertisements for Bugatti and Cinzano. He emigrated to the USA in 1933, away from a Europe heading for war, and worked on such films as Richard Boleslawski's 'The Garden of Allah' (1936), the first Technicolor film with Marlene Dietrich. He continued to make an impact in both the fashion and movie worlds in New York and Hollywood before his premature death in 1938.