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Lot Essay
Demetre Chiparus (1886-1947) was born in a well-to-do Rumanian family. He left the country at the age of 22 to study sculpture in Florence, Italy. Four years later he could no longer resist the cultural mystique of the French capital. In 1912 he went to Paris to become a student at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He studied sculpture under Antonin Mercié who seven years before had been the teacher of Constantin Brancusi, countryman of Chiparus. After the first years he stopped being a regular visitor of the sculpture classes in the atelier, lead by a fellow student, the massier. Most likely because he started to have his first commercial successes as an artist and preferred working on his own.
Paris in the beginning of the 20th century was a turbulent place, seeing new art movements arise, both in the fine arts as in the decorative arts, where the Art Deco style took over from Art Nouveau. Great excitement in Paris society was caused by the Ballets Russes, the dance company of Sergei Diaghilev, bringing total performances combining dance with music from new composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy and stage design by amongst others Pablo Picasso and Sonia and Robert Delaunay. Star dancer was Vaslav Nijinski who danced his most memorable dance with Ida Rubinstein in Scheherazade, depicted by Chiparus in his Russian Dancers sculpture. The daring Oriental scenery of the Ballets Russes inspired artists, fashion-designers, decorators and the public alike. Orientalism was popular in those days, allowing dancers to explore a more passionate field than granted in the ballets from the classic repertoire. Dutch Mata Hari was one of many who became famous on stage with her Orient-inspired dances. Chiparus was clearly influenced by the Oriental fashion and chose characters like Siva, Cleopatra and Bayadère as his subjects. Bayadère was a female dancer and singer of India.
The richness of Oriental costume made Bayadère a well-chosen subject for the technique of chryselephantine, seen in the present figure. Chryselephantine derives from the Greek chrysos meaning gold and elephantinos referring to ivory, and was used by the Greek to describe the sculptural technique of mixing gold and ivory. By 1900 the term was used to describe any kind of sculpture where ivory was used together with materials such as bronze, wood, rock crystal and lapis lazuli. The combination of ivory and bronze proved well, as ivory was a delicate, hard but easy material to carve, and the fluidity of the bronze allowed casting the smallest details. The use of ivory was stimulated by the Belgian government from the late 19th century, promoting the natural resources from its colony Belgian Congo and thereby assuring the availibility of the material. When making a new figure, Chiparus would first mould the piece in red plasteline, a clay-like material. The base, considered a vital part of the composition, would be modelled in plasteline as well. After Chiparus' work, the modelleur would take over, preparing the model for casting. These models were sold to founders together with the rights to reproduce them, although the artist would examine every single piece after the casting was done. Afterwards the bronze would be patinated or cold-painted and assembled with the ivory parts, which were made in a special ivory-carving workshop as a part of the foundry. The foundries that Chiparus worked with were Edmond Etling & Cie, under director Julien Dreyfus, and Les Neveux de J. Lehmann, under the Dutch-born directors Jules and Hugo Levy. Later Chiparus also worked with the foundries G. Mansard, Reveyrolis and with Chardon. Chiparus' sculptures were sold allover the world, to South America, India and the United States. The sculptures were sometimes executed by the foundries in different sizes, to allow a better decorative effect whether displayed on a mantelpiece or a pedestal. The exact number of sculptures made by the foundries is not known, as records were not orderly kept or have been lost.
The present lot is a stunning example of craftmanship by Demetre Chiparus. The elegance of the figure is mirrored in the two dancers on the silvered bronze plaque on the base. The veined marble base reflects the richly decorated surface of the bronze, where both the detailled texture as the subtle patinated and cold-painted colouring render an exquisite beauty to the figure.
See also:
Alberto Shayo, Chiparus Master of Art Deco, Second Edition, London, 1999, p. 129, plate 61
And:
Bryan Catley, Art Deco and other Figures, Woodbridge, 1979, p. 87
Paris in the beginning of the 20th century was a turbulent place, seeing new art movements arise, both in the fine arts as in the decorative arts, where the Art Deco style took over from Art Nouveau. Great excitement in Paris society was caused by the Ballets Russes, the dance company of Sergei Diaghilev, bringing total performances combining dance with music from new composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy and stage design by amongst others Pablo Picasso and Sonia and Robert Delaunay. Star dancer was Vaslav Nijinski who danced his most memorable dance with Ida Rubinstein in Scheherazade, depicted by Chiparus in his Russian Dancers sculpture. The daring Oriental scenery of the Ballets Russes inspired artists, fashion-designers, decorators and the public alike. Orientalism was popular in those days, allowing dancers to explore a more passionate field than granted in the ballets from the classic repertoire. Dutch Mata Hari was one of many who became famous on stage with her Orient-inspired dances. Chiparus was clearly influenced by the Oriental fashion and chose characters like Siva, Cleopatra and Bayadère as his subjects. Bayadère was a female dancer and singer of India.
The richness of Oriental costume made Bayadère a well-chosen subject for the technique of chryselephantine, seen in the present figure. Chryselephantine derives from the Greek chrysos meaning gold and elephantinos referring to ivory, and was used by the Greek to describe the sculptural technique of mixing gold and ivory. By 1900 the term was used to describe any kind of sculpture where ivory was used together with materials such as bronze, wood, rock crystal and lapis lazuli. The combination of ivory and bronze proved well, as ivory was a delicate, hard but easy material to carve, and the fluidity of the bronze allowed casting the smallest details. The use of ivory was stimulated by the Belgian government from the late 19th century, promoting the natural resources from its colony Belgian Congo and thereby assuring the availibility of the material. When making a new figure, Chiparus would first mould the piece in red plasteline, a clay-like material. The base, considered a vital part of the composition, would be modelled in plasteline as well. After Chiparus' work, the modelleur would take over, preparing the model for casting. These models were sold to founders together with the rights to reproduce them, although the artist would examine every single piece after the casting was done. Afterwards the bronze would be patinated or cold-painted and assembled with the ivory parts, which were made in a special ivory-carving workshop as a part of the foundry. The foundries that Chiparus worked with were Edmond Etling & Cie, under director Julien Dreyfus, and Les Neveux de J. Lehmann, under the Dutch-born directors Jules and Hugo Levy. Later Chiparus also worked with the foundries G. Mansard, Reveyrolis and with Chardon. Chiparus' sculptures were sold allover the world, to South America, India and the United States. The sculptures were sometimes executed by the foundries in different sizes, to allow a better decorative effect whether displayed on a mantelpiece or a pedestal. The exact number of sculptures made by the foundries is not known, as records were not orderly kept or have been lost.
The present lot is a stunning example of craftmanship by Demetre Chiparus. The elegance of the figure is mirrored in the two dancers on the silvered bronze plaque on the base. The veined marble base reflects the richly decorated surface of the bronze, where both the detailled texture as the subtle patinated and cold-painted colouring render an exquisite beauty to the figure.
See also:
Alberto Shayo, Chiparus Master of Art Deco, Second Edition, London, 1999, p. 129, plate 61
And:
Bryan Catley, Art Deco and other Figures, Woodbridge, 1979, p. 87