Demétre Chiparus

DEMÉTRE CHIPARUS (Romania, 1886 – France, 1947).
“American Bison.”
Bronze with brown patina. Numbered 1/1.
Signed.
A version in a different material is featured in “Chiparus, Master of Art Deco” by Alberto Shayo, pp. 40 and 69.
Measurements: 48 x 74.5 x 20 cm.

Although Demetre Chiparus is universally recognized for his sophisticated chryselephantine figures of ballerinas, actresses, and exotic characters, his animal sculptures constitute one of the most unique and least common facets of his career. During the final years of his career, particularly in the early 1940s, the sculptor focused part of his attention on the study of animals, creating works such as the polar bear, the pelican, and the imposing American bison. In these works, he replaced the delicacy and stylization of his celebrated female figures with a more forceful and sculptural approach, based on the power of volumes, muscular tension, and the synthesis of forms. His bison are particularly representative; in them, the animal’s powerful anatomy and the rendering of its thick coat lend the composition a striking monumental presence, while maintaining the formal elegance characteristic of Art Deco.

The significance of these sculptures is underscored by their rarity within the artist’s body of work: Chiparus presented an “American Bison” and a “Polar Bear” in plaster at the 1942 Paris Salon, evidence of a late phase in which he continued to work on and study animals even as the circumstances of World War II had considerably reduced the commercial production of his sculptures.

Who Was Chiparus and Why Was He Important to Art History?

Demetre Chiparus was one of the most representative and recognizable sculptors of Art Deco, particularly celebrated for his elegant female figures and dancers created during the 1920s and 1930s. Trained initially in Italy and later in Paris, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, he spent much of his career in the French capital. His work was closely linked to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of interwar Paris and was influenced by theater, the Ballets Russes, fashion, cinema, and the West’s interest in cultures considered exotic at the time.

His significance in the history of 20th-century decorative arts lies particularly in having elevated Art Deco sculpture to one of its highest levels of technical and ornamental sophistication. Chiparus became a leading specialist in chryselephantine sculpture, routinely combining bronze—often patinated, gilded, or polychromed—with ivory to depict the visible parts of the body. The richness of the materials, the intricate detail of the costumes and ornaments, the dynamic poses, and the geometric stylization characteristic of Art Deco made his sculptures true symbols of luxury and modernity in the 1920s and 1930s. Although his ballerinas constitute his best-known body of work, Chiparus also pursued animal sculpture—a less prolific but particularly interesting aspect of his career. Bison, polar bears, panthers, birds, and other animals reveal a different facet of the sculptor: in contrast to the ornamental refinement of his female figures, these pieces stand out for the power of their volumes, their anatomical precision, their movement, and their ability to synthesize the animal form. In his later years, this interest intensified, and he even exhibited animal sculptures at the Paris Salons. Demetre Chiparus’s work is represented in major international collections, including the Casa Lis Art Nouveau and Art Deco Museum in Salamanca, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and the Appleton Museum of Art in Florida, as well as prominent collections specializing in Art Deco.