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an , especially an actor, singer, dancer, or other public performer.
Contemporary Examples

He hated actually dealing with business matters, preferring to play the role of the likable artiste.
Spielberg’s Shattered Dream Nicole LaPorte May 2, 2010

After seeing Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova perform in Cairo, Iolas knew he wanted to be an artiste.
Alexander Iolas: The Secret King of Surrealism Justin Jones March 6, 2014

She’s the season’s pleasant surprise—Hollywood’s favorite sexy-tomboy turned serious artiste.
Oscar’s Diva Smackdown! Nicole LaPorte February 7, 2010

Historical Examples

Whittier knew the artiste of the world and talked to us about Raphael and Burns with clear-sighted, affectionate interest.
Selections From American Poetry Various

This opinion is highly favourable to the artiste and the art.
The Royal Guide to Wax Flower Modelling Emma Peachey

Perhaps half a dozen ladies who lead the fashionable world will say the artiste is overrated.
The Amazing Argentine John Foster Fraser

Pa was an artiste; he had thought of a thousand things since his trip to Brighton.
The Bill-Toppers Andre Castaigne

He frequently spoke in verse when he wished to reprimand an artiste.
My Double Life Sarah Bernhardt

Lady or no lady, she was an artiste first and foremost and hated competition.
The Bill-Toppers Andre Castaigne

The fashion an artiste enjoys can only last as his talent daily increases.
Memoirs of Robert-Houdin, ambassador, author and conjurer Jean Henri Robert-Houdin

noun
an entertainer, such as a singer or dancer
a person who is highly skilled in some occupation: a hair artiste
n.

1819 in English, from 1804 as a French word, from French artiste; a reborrowing of artist, at first in a foreign context, later used to fill the gap after the sense of artist had become limited toward the visual arts and especially painting.

Artiste: an admirable word (albeit somewhat Frenchified) of late applied, with nice discrimination, to every species of exhibitor, from a rope-dancer down to a mere painter or sculptor. On looking into little Entick (my great authority in these matters), I find we have already the word artist; but with stupid English perversity, we have hitherto used that in a much more restricted sense than its newly-imported rival, which it is becoming the excellent fashion to adopt. [“Paul Pry’s Journal of a Residence at Little-Pedlington,” Philadelphia, 1836]