CHIPARUS, DEMETRE

Demétre H. Chiparus (Romanian, 1886 ~ 1947) also known as Dumitru Chiparus, was born in Dorohoi, Romania, the son of Haralamb and Saveta Chiparus. In 1909 he went to Italy, where he attended the classes of an Italian sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, he then went on to Paris when he was 20 years old and studied under Mercié and Boucher and exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1914 to 1928. The first sculptures of Demetre Chiparus were created in the realistic style and were exhibited at the Salon of 1914. 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 Ballets Russes, 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 consistently worked with Demetre Chiparus and produced the sculptures cast from his models. Demetre Chiparus designed the most stylised and extravagant bases on which to present his sculptures, the bases made from an assortment of marbles and onyx.