Demetre Chiparus and Andrea Della Robbia

            Demetre Chiparus was one of the best sculptors of the art deco era. He was born on September 16, 1886 in Dorohoi, Romania. He was the son of Haralamb and Saveta. He took some classes in Italy in 1909 from a sculptor named Raffaello Romanelli. 1912 he moved to Paris where he spent the remainder of his life. Once he was in Paris he went to school at Ecole des Beaux Arts and here he took classes from Antonin Mercie and Jean Boucher. He used the technique chryselephantine, which is a way of sculpting that is overlaid ivory and gold. He perfected this technique in the 1920’s leading him to be a master at sculpting in this method. His work led him to wealth of which he enjoyed in his lifestyle. The popularity of his work reached its peak in 1928 but his style of work remained in demand until World War II. Paris had lots of Jewish foundries and Demetre did his work at the Etling Foundry in Paris. Due to the war they were forced out of business. Demetre was left with no one able to produce his pieces. This issue left him in financial trouble and his popularity also went down. His last series consisted of animal sculptures like lions and bears. He died in Paris, France in 1947. Some of Demetre's works are Friends Forever, Almeria and Leap Frog.

Chiparus, Demetre. Friends Forever. 1928. N.L.

Chiparus, Demetre. Almeria. 1925. N.L.

Chiparus, Demetre. Leap Frog. 1925. N.L.

            All artists are influenced by something. During his time he was influenced by an event, the excavation of Tutankhamen’s tomb, and some of his sculptures have an Egyptian influenced. Demetre was influenced by his interest in Russian ballet dancers and so he mostly sculpted dancers. He sculpted them in dance poses and beautiful intricate costumes. Another artist who was a famous sculptor was Andrea Della Robbia. His family had a sculpting business and his uncle was a famous sculptor. Andrea was influenced by his family, primarily his uncle, Luca Della Robbia, because he is the person who taught him everything he knew. Unlike Demetre who learned his art from going to school and taking classes from other artists. 

          Andrea Della Robbia was a sculptor of the Italian renaissance era. He was born on October 20, 1435 in Florence, Italy. He was the son of Marco Della Robbia and the nephew of Luca della Robbia. His family was famous for their terracotta sculptures and he inherited this talent and style for carving Christian art scenes. He trained as a stone carver and in ceramic art under his uncle. Andrea’s family had a formula for colored glazed terracotta and they introduced its use to add color to plastic art. However Andrea expanded its use to other things like fountains. As well he improved it so that he could apply it to art and make it look like a painting. In the 1470s Andrea started to gain his own art independence as a sculptor instead of just being a stone carver. Also his uncle died around this time, in 1482, and Andrea was left to take over the family workshop. He and his work became popular and he started receiving many commissions from all over Italy. During this time he had to hire five of his sons to work in his workshop for him due to the overwhelming amount of commissions. He gained much success and wealth in his life. Andrea was one of the few artists that lived the longest during the renaissance era. After he retired his five sons took over the family workshop. He died on August 4, 1525. Three of his works are Alessandri Crucifixion, Virgin and Child with Putti and Nativity.

Rosia, Della Andrea. Alessandri Crucifixion. 1480-1481. 

glazed terracotta. Chiesa Maggiore, La Verna

Rosia, Della Andrea. Virgin and Child with Putti. 1490-1495. 

Glazed terracotta. Legion of Honor-Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

Robbia, Della Andrea. Nativity. 1479. 

Glazed Terracota. Chiesa Maggiore, La Verna

            In his style and work he used more than one figure and usually only one to three colors of which blue the most was widely used. His work being terracotta was fragile but beautiful, the faces and bodies of his art always shiny and smooth to the touch and to the sight as well. Detail is in his work but it being terracotta it is not as evident as in others work. It can be mostly in the clothing of his subjects. It’s possible to take in all of the artwork in a short amount of time. The work of the artist Demetre Chiparus was not as subtle. As can be seen in his work there is a lot of intricate details most of which is concentrated in the outfits of his works. That being said it may take the eyes a bit longer to take in all that his artwork encompasses from the subjects pose to its clothing.