Biography

Demetre Chiparus was a Romanian sculptor working in the Art Deco style. His distinctive sculptures—frequently combining bronze and ivory in a technique known as chryselephantine—depicted female dancers in ancient Egyptian or contemporary ballet garb. Chiparus was markedly inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb during his lifetime, as well as by Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which informed the stylized, slender appearance of his figures. Born on September 16, 1886 in Dorohoi, Romania, he went on to study in Italy with the sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, later moving to Paris to enroll at the École des Beaux-Arts. During the Nazi invasion of Paris, almost no works of Chiparus were sold, though the artist continued sculpting animals in the Art Deco style. Collecting interest in his work experienced a resurgence in the 1970s, and his pieces now command high prices at auction. Today, his work can be found in the permanent collection of Casa Lis, an Art Nouveau and Art Deco museum in Salamanca, Spain. Chiparus died on January 22, 1947 in Paris, France.