The AADDA chose the beautiful and timeless work of Demetre H. Chiparus's "Beach Dancer," to serve as our official Logo and Seal image. The beautiful work of Chiparus is of course, synonymous with excellence in both Art Deco and Art Nouveau expressionism. Demetre Chiparus (1888-1947) was born in Rumania, studied in Italy and immigrated to Paris, were he studied under Antonin Mercier and Jean Boucher with Ecole des Beaux Arts.

Paris of the 1920s embodied the heady days between the two world wars, and avant-garde music, dance, and art were breaking free of academic molds. This vibrant modern milieu is documented in the vivacious sculptures of Chiparus, who was an extremely prolific artist, producing a wide variety of mainly small-scale figures. Contemporary inspirations for Chiparus included Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, the stage designs of Leon Bakst, haute couture and the New Woman, and particularly the Parisian music hall whose erotic and daring dancers were the single most important source for Chiparus's delightful figures. These were executed generally either all in bronze or with bronze and ivory. The slim figure of Chiparus's works, with their long legs and arms, became the epitome of the perfect Art Deco figurine, embodying exoticness and elegance. They were all not only beautiful, but actively capturing their movement and vitality mounted upon the beautiful hand polished, veined marble stepped bases.

Chiparus began to exhibit his beautiful sculptures, and his first showing was at the Salon of the Societe des Artistes Francais in 1914. He won an honorable mention that same year along with Louis Comfort Tiffany. His last recorded exhibit at the Salon was in 1939. He produced most of his renowned works between 1914 and 1933. Though his feminine figures and dancers made his reputation; he also produced a vast array of sculptures of children. Some of his bronzes were cast at the Marcel Guillemard foundry in Paris using the hot cast / lost wax process (also called cire-perdue). This ancient process of bronze production dates back to the 3rd millennium BC and was used to cast the finest bronzes as it gives the best possible detail to the bronze finish. He was awarded a prize at the Salon des Beaux-Arts, in which several of his chryselephantine (combination of bronze and ivory) sculptures exhibited. Chiparus produced his magnificent works in editions with special editions running in more than one size. He died in Paris in 1947.