Demetre Chiparus

Demetre Haralamb Chiparus (also known as Dumitru Chipăruş) (16 September 1886, Dorohoi, Romania - 22 January 1947, Paris, France) was a Romanian Art Deco era sculptor who lived and worked in Paris.

Life

He was born in Romania, the son of Haralamb and Saveta. In 1909 he went to Italy, where he attended the classes of Italian sculptor Raffaello Romanelli. In 1912 he traveled to Paris to attend the Ecole des Beaux Arts to pursue his art at the classes of Antonin Mercie and Jean Boucher. Demetre Chiparus died in 1947 and was buried in Bagneux cemetery, just south of Paris.

Work

The first sculptures of Chiparus were created in the realistic style and were exhibited at the Salon of 1914. He employed the combination of bronze and ivory, called chryselephantine, to great effect. Most of his renowned works were made between 1914 and 1933. The first series of sculptures manufactured by Chiparus were the series of the children.

The mature style of Chiparus took shape beginning in the 1920s. His sculptures are remarkable for their bright and outstanding decorative effect. Dancers of the Russian Ballet, French theatre, and early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by a long, slender, stylized appearance. His work was influenced by an interest in Egypt, after Pharaoh Tutankhamen's tomb was excavated.

He worked primarily with the Edmond Etling and Cie Foundry in Paris administrated by Julien Dreyfus. Les Neveux de J. Lehmann was the second foundry who constantly worked with Chiparus and produced the sculptures of his models.

Chiparus rarely exhibited at the Salon. In 1923 he showed his “Javelin Thrower” and in 1928 exhibited his “Ta-Keo” dancer. During the period of Nazi persecution and the World War 2 the foundries discontinued production of work by Chiparus. The economic situation of that time was not favorable to the development of decorative arts and circumstances for many sculptors worsened.

Since the early 1940s almost no works of Chiparus were sold but the he continued sculpting for his own pleasure, depicting animals in the Art Deco style. At the 1942 Paris Salon, the plaster sculptures “Polar Bear” and “American Bison” were exhibited and in 1943 he showed a marble “Polar Bear” and plaster “Pelican”.

Collector interest in the work of Chiparus appeared in the 1970s and has flourished since the 1990s.

Style

Sculptures of Dimitri Chiparus represent the classical manifestation of Art Deco style in decorative bronze ivory sculpture. Traditionally, four factors of influence over the creative activity of the artist can be distinguished: Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ancient Egyptian art, and French theatre. Early motion pictures were among his more notable subjects and were typified by figures with a long, slender, stylized appearance. Some of his sculptures were directly inspired by Russian dancers. For example, faces of “Persian Dance” figures reveal the likenesses of Vaslav Nijinsky and Ida Rubinstein, and the dress in “Starfish” exactly reproduces the sketch for Goldfish’s dress from the ballet “Underwater kingdom” by Lev Annensky. Chiparus could have been influenced by Russian ballets indirectly, through the performances of French music halls and cabarets which bore traces of the strong impact of Russian ballet. Quite often, Chiparus used the photos of Russian and French dancers, vedettes and models from fashion magazines of his time.

After the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, the art of ancient Egypt and the East came to French fashion and is also reflected in the creative activity of Chiparus. Several sculptures by Dimitri Chiparus and Claire Colinet represent queen Cleopatra and Egyptian dancers. The sculptures of Chiparus reflect his time and 1920-1930s sentiment of “folle”. Coming from the oldest French tradition of high-quality and extra-artistic decorative arts, the sculptures of Dimitri Chiparus combine elegance and luxury, embodying the spirit of the Art Deco epoch.

Gallery

Egyptian dancer

References

• Alberto Shayo Chiparus - Master of Art Deco (Abbeville Press, Publishers 1993) ISBN 1-55859-475-2
• Victor Arwas. «Art deco» — London: 1992 [1]
• Victor Arwas. «Art Deco Sculpture: Chryselephantine Statuettes of the Twenties and Thirties» — London: 1975 [2]
• Bryan Catley. «Art Deco and other Figures» — Woodbridge, Suffolk: 1978 [3]

External links

• Gallery of sculptures

Persondata
Name	Chiparus, Demetre
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	16 September 1886
Place of birth
Date of death	22 January 1947
Place of death