Sculpture By Demétre Chiparus (1886 – Paris 1947), “pierrot”

Demétre Chiparus (Dorohoi 1886 – Paris 1947), “Pierrot”, circa 1925.

Patinated bronze, ivory.

Measurements: cm. 66 x 24 x 22

Signed “D.H. Chiparus” on the base.

This chryselephantine sculpture by Chiparus depicts the most famous French mask of the Commedia dell’Arte: Pierrot, the shy and sad mime in love with Colombina.

The character of Pierrot was brought at the end of the seventeenth century by Italian theatre companies that stopped in French cities; historians hypothesize that it is a derivation of Pedrolino, the crafty servant, due to the similarities between the corresponding stage costumes.

In fact, the aforementioned character, like Pierrot, is characterized by large white clothes, a large ruff and white make-up on the face, the so-called “infarinato”.

The French mask continued to be popular throughout the 18th and 19th centuries; with the foundation of the Cercle Funambulesque (“Circle of tightrope walkers”) the figure evolved into a gymnast and acrobat. Pierrot, with his ambiguous personality and subject to reinterpretation, became a source of inspiration for composers such as Claude Debussy and painters such as Seaurat and Cézanne. He was also frequent in the illustrations of the English aesthete Aubrey Beardsley.

Chiparus himself provides another version of the character: his Pierrot plays a mandola with a melancholic tone while looking upwards, perhaps seeking the Moon that has enchanted him.

His clothes, the ruff and the cap he wears are all made of bronze, patinated and oxidized with different methods to create a polychromy; his hands and head are instead sculpted in ivory, the artist's favorite material for rendering the softness and transparency of the flesh.

BIOGRAPHY

Demétre Chiparus, born Dumitru Haralamb Chipăruș, was born in Dorohoi, Romania in 1886. At the age of twenty-three he moved to Italy, where he studied under the guidance of the prolific sculptor Raffaello Romanelli, a teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1912, after enrolling at the École des Beaux-Arts, he moved to Paris and attended the lessons of Jean Boucher (1870-1939) and Antonin Mercié (1845-1916). Chiparus made his debut at the Salon de Paris in 1914: the commission awarded him together with his fellow sculptor Claire Colinet. The first series he created in this period were those of children.

Chiparus worked mainly in bronze, collaborating with French foundries such as that of the antique dealer Edmond Eting, owner of the Galerie Béranger.

The more mature style for which he is most appreciated and known developed from the 1920s onwards; the figures become elongated, slender and supple and move in space with elegant twists of the body.

Following the discovery of the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun in 1922, the fascination with the East and especially Egypt once again reappears in Western fashion: there are numerous statuettes by the artist depicting Cleopatra and belly dancers.

Another source of inspiration for the sculptor is certainly the Ballets Russes, the company founded in 1909 by Sergei Diaghilev which was very popular in France at the time: the avant-garde choreography, the eclectic costumes and the dramatic movements of the talented dancers leave an indelible mark on Chiparus' art, so much so that the latter become models. The famous Danseuse au cerceau was sculpted inspired by the performances of Zoula de Boncza, a Polish dancer who performed at the Folies Bergère; the faces of the sculptural group Danseurs persans, which exists in numerous versions, are none other than portraits of the dancers and choreographers Ida Rubinstein and Vaslav Nijinsky. The latter's sister, Bronislava Nijinska, hides behind the appearance of one of the sculptor's most appreciated works, the famous Almeria.

Following the fantastic success of his works, he left his small workshop to move to the prestigious district of Neuilly sur Seine with his partner Julien Lüller in 1928.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the art market suffered a relapse and thus the artistic innovation of Art Deco died. At the end of an era, Chiparus continued to sculpt works in his style purely for his personal pleasure; Between 1942 and 1943 he exhibited his terracotta animals at the Salon and frequently went to the Vincennes Zoo to study their proportions. He suffered a stroke on his return from one of these visits and died in 1947. He was buried in the Bagneux cemetery.