Master of Art Deco
Master of Art Deco
chiparus
chiparus
Author photo: Francisco Pinto
Alberto Shayo was born and raised in Buenos Aires. He lived in England for 10 years during which time he earned a degree in Economics and Politics at the University of Birmingham. After returning to Buenos Aires he became a medical doctor, specialising in Dermatology. Another turn in his life led him to the world of art. He is now an art consultant and has written extensively on the Art Deco period, particularly on chryselephantine figures. He currently lives in Rio de Janeiro, and is an avid football fan.
chiparus Master of Art Deco
In this new and updated edition, the author delves deeper into the life and works of Demetre Chiparus (1886-1947), the quintessential sculptor of the Art Deco period. Recent discoveries are recorded within, the most important being the marble Polar Bear. This statue was last seen over 75 years ago in Paris, where it was exhibited for the only time at the 1943 Salon des Artistes Français. This edition is the first to present both modern and contemporary images of this long-lost piece. Born in Romania, Chiparus studied in Florence before settling in Paris. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and eventually found his medium in the world of decorative arts, where he became known for his dancing figures in theatrical costume. Over 25 years ago, the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo’s rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life.
Front cover: Polar Bear
Alberto Shayo
Back cover: Portrait of Julienne Lullier
To see the full catalogue of books published by ACC Art Books, please go to our website: www.accartbooks.com ACC ART BOOKS Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, UK Tel: 01394 389950 email: uksales@accartbooks.com 6 West 18th Street, Suite 4B New York NY10011, USA Tel: 212 645 1111 email: ussales@accartbooks.com
ISBN: 978-1-78884-063-7
ËxHSLHSIy840637zv;:*:;:!:! £65.00/$95.00
www.accartbooks.com
Alberto Shayo
Contents Š 2016, 2019 Alberto Shayo World copyright reserved First published by ACC Art Books 2016 Revised and extended edition 2019
Acknowledgements
7
Preface
8
The Early Years
10
Development of the Art Deco Style
20
The New Woman
30
The right of Alberto Shayo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Chryselephantine Sculpture
42
Chiparus and the Art Deco Aesthetic
64
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
The Polar Bear
70
The Death of Chiparus
72
Archival Images
74
Endnotes
95
ISBN 978 1 78884 063 7
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
PLATES Front cover: Polar Bear Back cover: Portrait of Julienne Lullier Frontispiece: Mountain Village (detail) Page 336: Polar Bear (detail)
Note on measurements: All measurements in centimetres are accurate to one decimal place. Measurements in inches are approximate to the nearest Âź-inch.
Statuettes
98
Terracotta
284
Ceramics
298
Oil Paintings
312
Sanguines
322
Woodcut 325 Care of Chryselephantine Sculptures
326
Fakes and Reproductions
327
Bibliography
328
Photographic Credits
330
INDEXES Printed in Belgium for ACC Art Books Ltd, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England www.accartbooks.com
Artwork Index 332 Subject Index
334
Contents Š 2016, 2019 Alberto Shayo World copyright reserved First published by ACC Art Books 2016 Revised and extended edition 2019
Acknowledgements
7
Preface
8
The Early Years
10
Development of the Art Deco Style
20
The New Woman
30
The right of Alberto Shayo to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Chryselephantine Sculpture
42
Chiparus and the Art Deco Aesthetic
64
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
The Polar Bear
70
The Death of Chiparus
72
Archival Images
74
Endnotes
95
ISBN 978 1 78884 063 7
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
PLATES Front cover: Polar Bear Back cover: Portrait of Julienne Lullier Frontispiece: Mountain Village (detail) Page 336: Polar Bear (detail)
Note on measurements: All measurements in centimetres are accurate to one decimal place. Measurements in inches are approximate to the nearest Âź-inch.
Statuettes
98
Terracotta
284
Ceramics
298
Oil Paintings
312
Sanguines
322
Woodcut 325 Care of Chryselephantine Sculptures
326
Fakes and Reproductions
327
Bibliography
328
Photographic Credits
330
INDEXES Printed in Belgium for ACC Art Books Ltd, Woodbridge, Suffolk, England www.accartbooks.com
Artwork Index 332 Subject Index
334
STUDY IN PARIS Drawn by the cultural mystique of Paris, Chiparus left Italy for France in 1912. Several of his fellow artists and countrymen were already in Paris, among them Constantin Brancusi, one of the 20th century’s most influential sculptors. In 1905 Brancusi, a Romanian expatriate, became a student at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the most prestigious fine arts academy in Europe. Seven years later Chiparus enrolled there, studying under Antonin Mercié, who had also been Brancusi’s teacher.4 Chiparus applied to the École des Beaux-Arts in November 1912. He was armed with a recom mendation from Nicolas Lahorany, a minister at the Romanian embassy in Paris, a routine practice for foreign students. Study at the École des Beaux-Arts followed a pre-established pattern. A young person would first approach the artist with whom he wished to
study, asking permission to work in his atelier in order to prepare for the concours d’admission, the school’s entrance examination. The examination was rigorous and required at least several months of preparation; some students took a year or more. The first record of Chiparus’s itinerary at the École is a document stating that on 29 November, 1912, Chiparus was given permission to attend Mercié’s atelier. Another wellknown Art Deco sculptor Charles Sarabezolles, had also studied in Mercié’s atelier, entering in 1907. Thus, by the end of November 1912, Chiparus had officially begun his studies at the school. It is documented that he was in possession of a sculptor’s stand, as per regulations, and that he had paid a deposit of fifteen francs towards the thirty due for the atelier’s common expenses (materials, heating, etc.).5 By the spring of 1913, Chiparus considered himself ready to take the concours d’admission, which was to decide his acceptance or rejection. His grades on the test were mediocre. In the two obligatory sections, covering the sculpted figure and the drawn classical figure,6 he achieved a score of 13.5 out of 20. The anatomy, architecture and history sections of the test were optional, covering knowledge considered helpful but not essential for an aspiring sculptor. He attempted two of these, scoring 5 out of 20 in anatomy and 3 out of 20 in history; he did not take the architecture portion. His scores placed Chiparus among the students who were admitted to the École des BeauxArts on a probationary basis,7 their final status to be determined later in the course of their studies. Chiparus studied under two teachers at the École des Beaux-Arts, Mercié and Jean Boucher. Although Boucher was not officially named chef d’atelier until 1919, by which time Chiparus had ceased to attend classes, it is likely that he took on Mercié’s duties when the older man died in 1916. Thus he was Chiparus’s second teacher at the school.
THE DIFFICULT CROSSING Plaster model Private collection 14
The École des Beaux-Arts, a venerable institution which had produced many of France’s best artists, was strongly bound by tradition. The ateliers formed the basic unit to which students belonged and were to a great degree regulated by the students themselves.
Chiparus in his studio. In addition to paintings, the sculpture The Difficult Crossing is visible at the right, and several figures from the children series can be recognised.
A senior student, called a massier, generally ran the atelier and collected dues to pay for the daily needs of the atelier: firewood, materials, etc. Attendance in the ateliers was not obligatory; students came and went as they pleased, and the teacher stopped by periodically, usually once or twice a week, to survey the works in progress and offer critiques. This system allowed great freedom. Each artist’s integration into the class depended more on how one was viewed by the massier and the other students than by the teacher. Chiparus’s attendance records are the only indication
as to how his studies went. No other official evaluation was made of the students except for the results of the concours, after which he took no further examinations. In 1912–13, his first year, Chiparus attended eighteen classes in December, twelve in January, seventeen in February, eighteen in March, and twenty-four in April. During the school year of 1913–14 he did not attend at all. In 1914–15 he did not attend either; but this is not surprising, for the First World War had caused the suspension of most classes. Even when classes were held, attendance was meagre. Chiparus’s name 15
STUDY IN PARIS Drawn by the cultural mystique of Paris, Chiparus left Italy for France in 1912. Several of his fellow artists and countrymen were already in Paris, among them Constantin Brancusi, one of the 20th century’s most influential sculptors. In 1905 Brancusi, a Romanian expatriate, became a student at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the most prestigious fine arts academy in Europe. Seven years later Chiparus enrolled there, studying under Antonin Mercié, who had also been Brancusi’s teacher.4 Chiparus applied to the École des Beaux-Arts in November 1912. He was armed with a recom mendation from Nicolas Lahorany, a minister at the Romanian embassy in Paris, a routine practice for foreign students. Study at the École des Beaux-Arts followed a pre-established pattern. A young person would first approach the artist with whom he wished to
study, asking permission to work in his atelier in order to prepare for the concours d’admission, the school’s entrance examination. The examination was rigorous and required at least several months of preparation; some students took a year or more. The first record of Chiparus’s itinerary at the École is a document stating that on 29 November, 1912, Chiparus was given permission to attend Mercié’s atelier. Another wellknown Art Deco sculptor Charles Sarabezolles, had also studied in Mercié’s atelier, entering in 1907. Thus, by the end of November 1912, Chiparus had officially begun his studies at the school. It is documented that he was in possession of a sculptor’s stand, as per regulations, and that he had paid a deposit of fifteen francs towards the thirty due for the atelier’s common expenses (materials, heating, etc.).5 By the spring of 1913, Chiparus considered himself ready to take the concours d’admission, which was to decide his acceptance or rejection. His grades on the test were mediocre. In the two obligatory sections, covering the sculpted figure and the drawn classical figure,6 he achieved a score of 13.5 out of 20. The anatomy, architecture and history sections of the test were optional, covering knowledge considered helpful but not essential for an aspiring sculptor. He attempted two of these, scoring 5 out of 20 in anatomy and 3 out of 20 in history; he did not take the architecture portion. His scores placed Chiparus among the students who were admitted to the École des BeauxArts on a probationary basis,7 their final status to be determined later in the course of their studies. Chiparus studied under two teachers at the École des Beaux-Arts, Mercié and Jean Boucher. Although Boucher was not officially named chef d’atelier until 1919, by which time Chiparus had ceased to attend classes, it is likely that he took on Mercié’s duties when the older man died in 1916. Thus he was Chiparus’s second teacher at the school.
THE DIFFICULT CROSSING Plaster model Private collection 14
The École des Beaux-Arts, a venerable institution which had produced many of France’s best artists, was strongly bound by tradition. The ateliers formed the basic unit to which students belonged and were to a great degree regulated by the students themselves.
Chiparus in his studio. In addition to paintings, the sculpture The Difficult Crossing is visible at the right, and several figures from the children series can be recognised.
A senior student, called a massier, generally ran the atelier and collected dues to pay for the daily needs of the atelier: firewood, materials, etc. Attendance in the ateliers was not obligatory; students came and went as they pleased, and the teacher stopped by periodically, usually once or twice a week, to survey the works in progress and offer critiques. This system allowed great freedom. Each artist’s integration into the class depended more on how one was viewed by the massier and the other students than by the teacher. Chiparus’s attendance records are the only indication
as to how his studies went. No other official evaluation was made of the students except for the results of the concours, after which he took no further examinations. In 1912–13, his first year, Chiparus attended eighteen classes in December, twelve in January, seventeen in February, eighteen in March, and twenty-four in April. During the school year of 1913–14 he did not attend at all. In 1914–15 he did not attend either; but this is not surprising, for the First World War had caused the suspension of most classes. Even when classes were held, attendance was meagre. Chiparus’s name 15
Among the most influential of the early ballets performed by the Ballets Russes was Scheherazade, based on the symphonic poem of Rimsky-Korsakov, danced by Nijinsky, and with scenery and costumes designed by Bakst. First performed on 10 June, 1910, the ballet was the first entirely innovative creation of the new company and one of its most transcendental. The story, based on the prologue to the Arabian Nights, is a tale of intrigue, jealousy, sensuality, and violence. It recounts the passionate love affair between a sultana, danced by Ida Rubinstein, and her slave. Exhibiting the great virtuosity for which he was most famous, Nijinsky, as the golden slave, covered twothirds of the stage in one leap when he was let loose. The climax is an orgy culminating in death for all. The ballet shocked and enthralled audiences, and many took offense at its unbridled lust.
Bakst’s designs for Scheherazade masterfully underscored the ballet’s action, evoking an Orient of mystery and latent violence. When the curtain rose on the secret apartments of the sultan’s harem, the audience was assaulted with dazzling, throbbing colour. The red-carpeted floor was strewn with scarlet rugs. Brilliant green silk curtains, ornamented with pink and gold, billowed above the stage. In the words of a contemporary critic, “Paris is enchanted by this creative effort of Bakst, as spicy, sensuous, and vivid as Oriental fabrics and semiprecious stones, impregnated with the aroma of the Orient.”5 Bakst’s sets and costumes for Scheherazade were an important influence in the budding Art Deco style. In Russian Dancers (plate 85) Chiparus depicts Nijinsky dancing with Rubinstein in Scheherazade,
Ida Rubinstein in Scheherazade. Dance Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
RUSSIAN DANCERS 26
27
Among the most influential of the early ballets performed by the Ballets Russes was Scheherazade, based on the symphonic poem of Rimsky-Korsakov, danced by Nijinsky, and with scenery and costumes designed by Bakst. First performed on 10 June, 1910, the ballet was the first entirely innovative creation of the new company and one of its most transcendental. The story, based on the prologue to the Arabian Nights, is a tale of intrigue, jealousy, sensuality, and violence. It recounts the passionate love affair between a sultana, danced by Ida Rubinstein, and her slave. Exhibiting the great virtuosity for which he was most famous, Nijinsky, as the golden slave, covered twothirds of the stage in one leap when he was let loose. The climax is an orgy culminating in death for all. The ballet shocked and enthralled audiences, and many took offense at its unbridled lust.
Bakst’s designs for Scheherazade masterfully underscored the ballet’s action, evoking an Orient of mystery and latent violence. When the curtain rose on the secret apartments of the sultan’s harem, the audience was assaulted with dazzling, throbbing colour. The red-carpeted floor was strewn with scarlet rugs. Brilliant green silk curtains, ornamented with pink and gold, billowed above the stage. In the words of a contemporary critic, “Paris is enchanted by this creative effort of Bakst, as spicy, sensuous, and vivid as Oriental fabrics and semiprecious stones, impregnated with the aroma of the Orient.”5 Bakst’s sets and costumes for Scheherazade were an important influence in the budding Art Deco style. In Russian Dancers (plate 85) Chiparus depicts Nijinsky dancing with Rubinstein in Scheherazade,
Ida Rubinstein in Scheherazade. Dance Collection, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations
RUSSIAN DANCERS 26
27
designs. Such artists as the Belgian Fernand Khnopff and the Frenchmen Théodore Rivière and Dominique Alonzo created works in the symbolist vein. Chiparus owed his own enormous popularity to the unpretentious decorative character of his sculpture, but the same qualities also earned the scorn of some. His work was not considered “serious” or even authentically artistic because it was so commercially successful. Members of the artistic intelligentsia – like the designer Jacques Doucet, whose patronage of contemporary artists and artisans helped to establish the Art Deco style – preferred to decorate their homes with the works of such sculptors as Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Laurens, or Constantin Brancusi. Chiparus and his contemporaries Marcel Bouraine, Guiraud-Rivière, Edouard-Marcel Sandoz, Pierre le Faguays, and Claire Colinet, to name a few, catered to a different segment of society. Their public appreciated pleasant and diverting art objects, meant to be viewed in an intimate setting as pure decoration. Their sculptures were inspired not by serious or classical themes, but by the pleasures of everyday life.
IVORY The use of ivory dates to prehistoric times, when it was employed in the making of tools. It became a frequent component in luxury goods, along with gold, silver, and precious stones. The Bible mentions King Solomon, who “made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold” (2 Chronicles 9:17). Ivory carving was prevalent in Europe around the tenth century b.c. By the fifth century b.c. the great sculptor Phidias combined gold with ivory to create the spectacular figures of Athena in the Parthenon, twelve metres (forty feet) tall, and Zeus on Mount Olympus, eighteen metres (fifty-eight feet) tall. The flesh of the statues was rendered in ivory, while the hair and garments were made of gold decorated with colour. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, ivory was employed only in small quantities for decorative uses: 44
piano keys, hairbrushes, and various other accessories. When Belgium annexed a portion of the Congo, however, it began vigorously exploiting that country’s rich natural resources. Ivory, among other products, was sent back to Belgium in tremendous quantities. The hunting of elephants was not regulated, and the supply of ivory seemed endless. Edmond van Eetvelde, the Belgian secretary of state for the Congo Free State, sought ways to increase the consumption of ivory. It was offered at a low cost to artists and artisans – for a time it was even given to artists – and a special effort was made to promote exhibitions displaying works incorporating ivory. The results of this policy were soon visible. A new section of the Antwerp International Exhibition was inaugurated in 1894, featuring “colonial” works, which included objects made of ivory. That same year the Brussels Exhibition included a group of sculptures that used ivory as the primary or sole material. Ivory is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye (one factor accounting for its enormous popularity as a decorative arts medium), it is also a gratifying medium to work with. Ivory yields readily to carving; even minute detail can be depicted in its supple surface with beautiful clarity, and it is easily cut and drilled. It is also a very hard material, resistant to splintering. Ivory is easy to work with even in very small sizes, and it is relatively flexible, so that it can be bent slightly to form curved angles or rounded objects. Pure, smooth and silken to the touch, it can be polished to take on a fine sheen or coloured for ornamental effect. Only a third of an elephant’s tusk is suitable for carving, the two-thirds closest to the elephant’s mouth being hollow. Readily available at the time, African elephant ivory was of superior quality to Indian ivory for chryselephantine carving. (Indian ivory was not available.) The African tusks were larger, thus larger portions of the tusk were solid and able to be sculpted. In addition, African ivory is softer and therefore easier to work with, and its grain is finer than that of Indian ivory, resulting in a more natural look to the facial features of the sculptures. Chiparus was adept at
LEOTARD DANCER
achieving realistic effects by taking advantage of the grain of the ivory. Ivory was the material of choice for the flesh of chryselephantine figures. Its sleek whiteness offers a poignant contrast with the brash sheen of the bronze clothing, producing an almost palpable impression of soft flesh unveiled by glittering dresses. The faces of Chiparus’s women possess a purity of line that is enhanced and accentuated by the ivory. In Leotard Dancer (plate 107), a rare piece, Chiparus uses ivory in an astonishing way – there are “holes” in the dancer’s clothing through which the ivory flesh peeks out. Today there is no excuse or justification that can be made for killing animals to obtain ivory. Antique
chryselephantine sculptures, however, were made at a time when there were no government regulations. We may well disapprove in hindsight of the use of ivory, but the existence of these sculptures no longer threatens the life of any elephant. Attacks on the use of ivory in antique statuettes are therefore misplaced, merely diverting public attention from abuses still occurring today, which can and must be stopped.
BRONZE The clothing and accessories of chryselephantine figures were generally rendered in bronze, a copper alloy whose use dates to earlier than the middle of the second millennium b.c., when the true Bronze Age had spread across Europe. This metal was prized for 45
designs. Such artists as the Belgian Fernand Khnopff and the Frenchmen Théodore Rivière and Dominique Alonzo created works in the symbolist vein. Chiparus owed his own enormous popularity to the unpretentious decorative character of his sculpture, but the same qualities also earned the scorn of some. His work was not considered “serious” or even authentically artistic because it was so commercially successful. Members of the artistic intelligentsia – like the designer Jacques Doucet, whose patronage of contemporary artists and artisans helped to establish the Art Deco style – preferred to decorate their homes with the works of such sculptors as Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Laurens, or Constantin Brancusi. Chiparus and his contemporaries Marcel Bouraine, Guiraud-Rivière, Edouard-Marcel Sandoz, Pierre le Faguays, and Claire Colinet, to name a few, catered to a different segment of society. Their public appreciated pleasant and diverting art objects, meant to be viewed in an intimate setting as pure decoration. Their sculptures were inspired not by serious or classical themes, but by the pleasures of everyday life.
IVORY The use of ivory dates to prehistoric times, when it was employed in the making of tools. It became a frequent component in luxury goods, along with gold, silver, and precious stones. The Bible mentions King Solomon, who “made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold” (2 Chronicles 9:17). Ivory carving was prevalent in Europe around the tenth century b.c. By the fifth century b.c. the great sculptor Phidias combined gold with ivory to create the spectacular figures of Athena in the Parthenon, twelve metres (forty feet) tall, and Zeus on Mount Olympus, eighteen metres (fifty-eight feet) tall. The flesh of the statues was rendered in ivory, while the hair and garments were made of gold decorated with colour. Throughout most of the nineteenth century, ivory was employed only in small quantities for decorative uses: 44
piano keys, hairbrushes, and various other accessories. When Belgium annexed a portion of the Congo, however, it began vigorously exploiting that country’s rich natural resources. Ivory, among other products, was sent back to Belgium in tremendous quantities. The hunting of elephants was not regulated, and the supply of ivory seemed endless. Edmond van Eetvelde, the Belgian secretary of state for the Congo Free State, sought ways to increase the consumption of ivory. It was offered at a low cost to artists and artisans – for a time it was even given to artists – and a special effort was made to promote exhibitions displaying works incorporating ivory. The results of this policy were soon visible. A new section of the Antwerp International Exhibition was inaugurated in 1894, featuring “colonial” works, which included objects made of ivory. That same year the Brussels Exhibition included a group of sculptures that used ivory as the primary or sole material. Ivory is not only aesthetically pleasing to the eye (one factor accounting for its enormous popularity as a decorative arts medium), it is also a gratifying medium to work with. Ivory yields readily to carving; even minute detail can be depicted in its supple surface with beautiful clarity, and it is easily cut and drilled. It is also a very hard material, resistant to splintering. Ivory is easy to work with even in very small sizes, and it is relatively flexible, so that it can be bent slightly to form curved angles or rounded objects. Pure, smooth and silken to the touch, it can be polished to take on a fine sheen or coloured for ornamental effect. Only a third of an elephant’s tusk is suitable for carving, the two-thirds closest to the elephant’s mouth being hollow. Readily available at the time, African elephant ivory was of superior quality to Indian ivory for chryselephantine carving. (Indian ivory was not available.) The African tusks were larger, thus larger portions of the tusk were solid and able to be sculpted. In addition, African ivory is softer and therefore easier to work with, and its grain is finer than that of Indian ivory, resulting in a more natural look to the facial features of the sculptures. Chiparus was adept at
LEOTARD DANCER
achieving realistic effects by taking advantage of the grain of the ivory. Ivory was the material of choice for the flesh of chryselephantine figures. Its sleek whiteness offers a poignant contrast with the brash sheen of the bronze clothing, producing an almost palpable impression of soft flesh unveiled by glittering dresses. The faces of Chiparus’s women possess a purity of line that is enhanced and accentuated by the ivory. In Leotard Dancer (plate 107), a rare piece, Chiparus uses ivory in an astonishing way – there are “holes” in the dancer’s clothing through which the ivory flesh peeks out. Today there is no excuse or justification that can be made for killing animals to obtain ivory. Antique
chryselephantine sculptures, however, were made at a time when there were no government regulations. We may well disapprove in hindsight of the use of ivory, but the existence of these sculptures no longer threatens the life of any elephant. Attacks on the use of ivory in antique statuettes are therefore misplaced, merely diverting public attention from abuses still occurring today, which can and must be stopped.
BRONZE The clothing and accessories of chryselephantine figures were generally rendered in bronze, a copper alloy whose use dates to earlier than the middle of the second millennium b.c., when the true Bronze Age had spread across Europe. This metal was prized for 45
175 INNOCENCE Bronze; mounted as a car mascot Height of figure on small metal base: 10.5cm. (4in.) Private collection 176 LITTLE SAD ONE Bronze; mounted as a car mascot Height: 14.5cm. (5 3â „4 in.) Private collection 258
259
175 INNOCENCE Bronze; mounted as a car mascot Height of figure on small metal base: 10.5cm. (4in.) Private collection 176 LITTLE SAD ONE Bronze; mounted as a car mascot Height: 14.5cm. (5 3â „4 in.) Private collection 258
259
316
247 BOULDERS AMID TREES
248 PATH WITH ARCHED TREES, BARBIZON
52 x 43cm. (20 1⁄2 x 17in.) Private collection
53 x 45cm. (21 x 17 3⁄4 in.) Private collection
317
316
247 BOULDERS AMID TREES
248 PATH WITH ARCHED TREES, BARBIZON
52 x 43cm. (20 1⁄2 x 17in.) Private collection
53 x 45cm. (21 x 17 3⁄4 in.) Private collection
317
Master of Art Deco
Master of Art Deco
chiparus
chiparus
Author photo: Francisco Pinto
Alberto Shayo was born and raised in Buenos Aires. He lived in England for 10 years during which time he earned a degree in Economics and Politics at the University of Birmingham. After returning to Buenos Aires he became a medical doctor, specialising in Dermatology. Another turn in his life led him to the world of art. He is now an art consultant and has written extensively on the Art Deco period, particularly on chryselephantine figures. He currently lives in Rio de Janeiro, and is an avid football fan.
chiparus Master of Art Deco
In this new and updated edition, the author delves deeper into the life and works of Demetre Chiparus (1886-1947), the quintessential sculptor of the Art Deco period. Recent discoveries are recorded within, the most important being the marble Polar Bear. This statue was last seen over 75 years ago in Paris, where it was exhibited for the only time at the 1943 Salon des Artistes Français. This edition is the first to present both modern and contemporary images of this long-lost piece. Born in Romania, Chiparus studied in Florence before settling in Paris. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and eventually found his medium in the world of decorative arts, where he became known for his dancing figures in theatrical costume. Over 25 years ago, the first publication of Chiparus: Master of Art Deco brought this artist into the public eye. His name, lost in records and catalogues, was rejuvenated by Alberto Shayo’s rediscovery of his works, effectively bringing artist and oeuvre back to life.
Front cover: Polar Bear
Alberto Shayo
Back cover: Portrait of Julienne Lullier
To see the full catalogue of books published by ACC Art Books, please go to our website: www.accartbooks.com ACC ART BOOKS Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, UK Tel: 01394 389950 email: uksales@accartbooks.com 6 West 18th Street, Suite 4B New York NY10011, USA Tel: 212 645 1111 email: ussales@accartbooks.com
ISBN: 978-1-78884-063-7
ËxHSLHSIy840637zv;:*:;:!:! £65.00/$95.00
www.accartbooks.com
Alberto Shayo