Demetre Haralamb Chiparus

Romanian, 1886 - 1947

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Demetre Chiparus was born in Romania in 1886 and in his early 20s traveled to Italy to study with Rafaello Romanelli and later moved to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He is best known for his sculptures of beautiful women often posed as dancers and he took inspiration from French and Russian Ballet. He also captured the look of film and theatre stars of the era. He developed a special technique of mixing ivory elements with bronze called chryselephantine but he worked in many materials in creating his sculptures.
As was prevalent in the 1920s and 30s, Sculptors often used a variety of names (pseudonyms) for their work as this enabled them to work for many different foundries and produce editions in a range of prices -sometimes producing the same design in different materials (plaster, shelter, art metal or bronze) . Chiparus was extremely prolific, working with Etling et cie, Lehman Foundry and others.
Using pseudonyms gave the artist more control over their commissions and profits ,expanding their ability to sell and show their work.