Constantin Brancusi

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), a Romanian sculptor who settled in France, revolutionized the art of sculpture in the 20th century. His work revealed the beauty of pure form in sculpture, but he endowed it with an organic mystery.

Constantin Brancusi was born into a family of poor peasants in the hamlet of Hobita in the province of Oltenia on Feb. 21, 1876. He taught himself to read and write and at the age of 18 entered the School of Arts and Crafts in Craiova and graduated in 1898. He then studied sculpture at the Bucharest Art School until 1902. His Ecorché, or flayed nude, executed in 1902, is such an accurate study of the male anatomy that it is still used at the medical school in Bucharest.

Brancusi enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1904, where he studied with Antonin Mercié. But Brancusi was drawn to the innovative art of Auguste Rodin, from whom he learned that the purpose of sculpture is not merely the representation of the surface of forms but the evocation of the inner force that produces the surface. He exhibited for the first time in 1906 in Paris, showing a portrait at the Salon organized by the Societé Nationale des Beaux-Arts and three other works at the Salon d'Automne in the same year. In Brancusi's works of 1905-1907, particularly the series Children's Heads, he used Rodin's impressionistic system of modeling, in which the planes bounding the volume are fragmented to suggest the transitory expressions of the physiognomy. Brancusi declined Rodin's invitation to become his studio assistant because he felt it necessary to find his own way without being subjected to the master's over-whelming influence.

The nature of Brancusi's future work, in which he eliminated all that was not essential in order to suggest the primordial sentiment, was foreshadowed in Prayer (1907), a statue of a kneeling woman which concentrates attention on the generalized contour of the body and not analytically on its volume. Step by step he reached a greater degree of simplification, of abstraction of the real element, which was still figurative. The decorative value was obtained by geometrical stringency and skillfully polished surfaces, as in the Wisdom of the Earth (1909) and The Kiss (1910). These works embody his new esthetics, inspired by folklore, which permitted a return to the suggestiveness and naive simplicity of primitive art. He dissected the scheme of folk art, which he took as his model, and retraced the slope back to the path of its formation, to the sentiment that gave it birth.

Maturity of His Art

By 1910 Brancusi's art took on the characteristics which were to revitalize sculpture. He worked in stone, wood, and bronze, perfecting his rendition of earlier themes, such as the portrait (Mademoiselle Pogany series, 1912-1933), the bird (Magic Bird cycle, 1912-1915; Bird in Space cycle, 1919-1940), the fish (Fish cycle, 1922-1930), and the column (Endless Column series, 1918-1937). In these works he projected his own rich inner life, at times haunted by fantasies of Romanian mythology, bypassing the intermediate representation of the human figure. Sculptures such as The Witch (1916) and The Chimera (1918) are sensitive incarnations of that sentiment which had given rise to Brancusi's native folklore. Brancusi's aim in his mature work was to reveal the crystalline structure of organic forms and to bring out the autonomous life of inorganic matter inherent in the very consistency of stone, metal, and wood.

Brancusi's Parisian studio was crowded with Romanian folk art. He led a simple life, similar to that of the peasants in his native province, which he never forgot, no matter how integrated he was in the French artistic movement. He was very successful and received numerous commissions. To honor the Romanian soldiers of World War I, Brancusi erected a monumental ensemble at Târgu-Jiu near his birthplace, which consists of the Endless Column in steel and the Gate of the Heroes and the Table of Silence with 12 chairs in stone (1937-1938). The structural and decorative elements of the monument were derived from the simple architecture and furniture of the Romanian peasants.

Brancusi died in Paris on March 16, 1957.

Contemplation and Liberation

Brancusi demonstrated that modern art, while preserving the harmony, balance, and humanism of its western European artistic legacy, could originate from the primordial ages of mankind which preceded the culture of classical antiquity. He invented forms that begin from reality but are not subject to it. His simple, calm forms, of organic perfection (although they have sometimes been considered abstract), reflect the creative attitude that is fundamental to modern plastic arts: renunciation of the method of interpreting sentiment by means of the poses and gestures of the human body (for example, the Beginning of the World, 1924; Socrates, 1923). Brancusi was interested in the stylization of forms in accordance with a logic governed by the requirements of expression (for example, The Cock, 1924). He reduced the image to the essential, pure form, as in his famed versions of Bird in Space.

The highly personal art of Brancusi cannot be labeled by the terms applied to modern movements, such as surrealism, cubism, abstraction, or futurism. It expresses his profound grasp of the intuitive spirit of creation, which is ingeniously integrated with the major stylistic aspects of modern art.

Further Reading

The most important work on Brancusi in English is Sidney Geist, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (1968). Geist also wrote the catalog for the retrospective exhibition held in 1969-1970, Constantin Brancusi, 1876-1957 (1969). See also David Lewis, Constantin Brancusi (1957); Sir Herbert Read, Constantin Brancusi (1957); Carola Giedion-Welcker, Constantin Brancusi, 1876-1957 (1958; trans. 1959); and Christian Zervos, ed., Constantin Brancusi: Sculptures, peintures, fresques, dessins, in French (1957). An important documentation of the bird sculptures is Athena T. Spear, Brancusi's Birds (1970).

Additional Sources

Lewis, David Neville, Constantin Brancusi, London: Academy Editions; New York: St. Martins Press, 1974. □

Brancusi, Constantin (1876–1957). Romanian sculptor, active for almost all his career in Paris (he became a French citizen the year before his death), one of the most revered and influential of 20th-century artists. He was born in the village of Hobitza into a peasant family and learnt woodcarving whilst working as a shepherd in the Carpathian Mountains. In 1896 he won a scholarship to the Bucharest School of Fine Arts, and in 1903 he moved to Munich, then in 1904 to Paris, where he endured several years of poverty. (According to his own romanticized account, Brancusi made his way to Paris entirely on foot, but this has been doubted.) The first works he exhibited in Paris (at the Salon d'Automne in 1906) were influenced by Rodin, but when Rodin offered to take him on as an assistant, Brancusi refused with the famous comment, ‘No other trees can grow in the shadow of an oak.’ Soon he rejected Rodin's surface animation, and in 1907 he began creating a distinctive style, based on his feeling that ‘what is real is not the external form but the essence of things. Starting from this truth it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface.’ From this time his work (in both stone and bronze) consisted largely of variations on a small number of themes (heads, birds, a couple embracing—The Kiss) in which he simplified shapes and smoothed surfaces into immaculately pure forms that sometimes approach complete abstraction. He was particularly fond of ovoid shapes—their egg-like character suggesting generation and birth and symbolizing his own creative gifts. (His woodcarvings, on the other hand, are rougher—closer to the Romanian folk-art tradition and to African sculpture.)

In 1913 five of Brancusi's sculptures were shown at the Armory Show in New York. This helped to establish his name ( John Quinn, legal representative of the exhib ition, became an important patron of his work), and the following year Stieglitz gave him a one-man show. During the 1920s he became known to a wider public when he was involved in two celebrated art scandals. In 1920 his Princess X was removed by police from the Salon des Indépendants because it had been denounced as indecent (there is a clear resemblance to a phallus); and in 1926 he became involved in a dispute with the US Customs authorities. They attempted to tax his Bird in Space (one of his most abstract works) as raw metal, rather than treat it as sculpture, which was duty-free. Brancusi was forced to pay up to get the work released for exhibition at the Brumner Gallery, New York, but he successfully sued the Customs Office, winning the court decision in 1928. By this time he had a growing international reputation and he travelled widely in the 1930s, including making a visit to India from December 1937 to January 1938 to discuss plans for a Temple of Meditation for the Maharajah of Indore. This was never built, but in the same period Brancusi did carry out his largest work, a complex of sculpture for the public park at Tirgu Jiu near his birthplace. The main elements of the scheme (which was inaugurated in October 1938) are the enormous Endless Column (about 30 metres high), which is a funerary monument to soldiers who died in the First World War (he made four other versions of this work), the Table of Silence, and the Gate of the Kiss. By his final years he was widely regarded as the greatest sculptor of the 20th century. He was rather vain and enjoyed the attention his status as a living legend gave him; he even took to talking about himself in the third person. Although he had many friends in the art world ( Marcel Duchamp and the composer Erik Satie were among the closest), he was secretive about his private life, and this increased his legendary aura.

Brancusi's originality in reducing natural forms to their ultimate—almost abstract—simplicity had profound effects on the course of modern sculpture, as did his masterly skill as a stonecarver, which helped to bring about a revival of direct carving. He introduced Modigliani to sculpture, Archipenko and Epstein owed much to him, and Gaudier-Brzeska was his professed admirer. Later, Carl Andre claimed to have been inspired by Endless Column, converting its repeated modules into his horizontal arrangements of identical units. More generally, Henry Moore wrote of Brancusi: ‘Since the Gothic, European sculpture had become overgrown with moss, weeds—all sorts of surface excrescences which completely concealed shape. It has been Brancusi's special mission to get rid of this undergrowth and to make us once more shape-conscious.’ However, although his work is so central to the history of modern art, John Golding writes that ‘as an artist he always managed to stand somewhat apart. When he was presented with a chart of “isms” drawn up by Alfred Barr and published in Michel Seuphor's Art abstrait in 1949 and saw that he didn't fit into any of them, he was delighted.’

Brancusi was a perfectionist and became increasingly reluctant to part with his work. He spent a good deal of his time arranging it in his studio and photographing it, sometimes documenting works in progress. His friend Man Ray helped him to improve his camera technique. On his death he bequeathed the studio and its contents to the French Government; it included versions of most of his best works (they often exist in multiple replicas in different materials) and more than a thousand photographs. The studio has now been reconstructed at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. There is another outstanding Brancusi collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Brancusi, Constantin (b Hobitza, 19 Feb. 1876; d Paris, 16 Mar. 1957). Romanian sculptor, active for almost all his career in Paris (he became a French citizen the year before his death), one of the most revered and influential of 20th-century artists. He settled in Paris in 1904 (according to his own romanticized account he had walked from Romania) and spent several years of poverty and hardship there. In 1906 he was introduced to Rodin, whose offer to take him on as assistant Brancusi refused with the famous comment that ‘No other trees can grow in the shadow of an oak.’ His work of this time was in fact influenced by Rodin's surface animation, but from 1907 Brancusi began creating a distinctive style, based on his feeling that ‘what is real is not the external form but the essence of things’. From this time his work (in both stone and bronze) consisted largely of variations on a small number of themes (heads, birds, a couple embracing—The Kiss) in which he simplified shapes and smoothed surfaces into immaculately pure forms that sometimes approach complete abstraction. He was particularly fond of ovoid shapes—their egglike character suggesting generation and birth and symbolizing his own creative gifts. (His woodcarvings, on the other hand, are rougher—closer to the Romanian folk-art tradition and to African sculpture.)

Brancusi's name was established abroad after five of his sculptures were shown at the Armory Show, New York, in 1913, and during the 1920s he became newsworthy when he was involved in two celebrated art scandals. In 1920 his Princess X was removed by police from the Salon des Indépendants because it had been denounced as indecent (there is a clear resemblance to a phallus); and in 1926 he had a dispute with the US Customs authorities. They attempted to tax his Bird in Space (one of his most abstract works) as raw metal, rather than treat it as sculpture, which was duty free. Brancusi was forced to pay up to get the work released for exhibition, but he successfully sued the Customs Office, winning the court decision in 1928. By this time he had a growing international reputation and during the 1930s he travelled widely, notably to India in 1937–8 to discuss designs for a Temple of Meditation (never built) for the Maharaja of Indore. Later in 1938 his largest work was inaugurated—a complex of sculpture (including the enormous Endless Column, nearly 30 m (100 ft) high) for the public park at Tirgu Jiu near his birthplace. By the time of his death he was widely regarded as the greatest sculptor of the 20th century.

Brancusi's originality in reducing natural forms to their ultimate—almost abstract—simplicity had profound effects on the course of 20th-century sculpture. He introduced Modigliani to sculpture, Archipenko and Epstein owed much to him, and Gaudier-Brzeska was his professed admirer. Later, Carl Andre claimed to have been inspired by Endless Column, converting its repeated modules into his horizontal arrangements of identical units. More generally, Henry Moore wrote of Brancusi: ‘Since the Gothic, European sculpture had become overgrown with moss, weeds—all sorts of surface excrescences which completely concealed shape. It has been Brancusi's special mission to get rid of this undergrowth and to make us once more shape-conscious.’ On his death Brancusi bequeathed to the French government his studio and its contents, which included versions of most of his best works (they often exist in multiple replicas in different materials). The studio has now been reconstructed at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. There is another outstanding Brancusi collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Brancusi, Constantin (1876–1957). Romanian sculptor, active for almost all his career in Paris (he became a French citizen the year before his death), one of the most revered and influential of 20th-century artists. He settled in Paris in 1904 (according to his own romanticized account he had walked from Romania) and spent several years of poverty and hardship there. In 1906 he was introduced to Rodin, whose offer to take him on as assistant Brancusi refused with the famous comment that ‘No other trees can grow in the shadow of an oak.’ His work of this time was in fact influenced by Rodin's surface animation, but from 1907 Brancusi began creating a distinctive style, based on his feeling that ‘what is real is not the external form but the essence of things’. From this time his work (in both stone and bronze) consisted largely of variations on a small number of themes (heads, birds, a couple embracing—The Kiss) in which he simplified shapes and smoothed surfaces into immaculately pure forms that sometimes approach complete abstraction. He was particularly fond of ovoid shapes—their egg-like character suggesting generation and birth and symbolizing his own creative gifts. (His woodcarvings, on the other hand, are rougher—closer to the Romanian folk-art tradition and to African sculpture.) His name was established abroad after five of his sculptures were shown at the Armory Show, New York, in 1913, and during the 1920s he became newsworthy when he was involved in two celebrated art scandals. In 1920 his Princess X was removed by police from the Salon des Indépendants because it had been denounced as indecent (there is a clear resemblance to a phallus); and in 1926 he had a dispute with the US Customs authorities. They attempted to tax his Bird in Space (one of his most abstract works) as raw metal, rather than treat it as sculpture, which was duty-free. Brancusi was forced to pay up to get the work released for exhibition, but he successfully sued the Customs Office, winning the court decision in 1928. By this time he had a growing international reputation and during the 1930s he travelled widely, notably to India in 1937–8 to discuss designs for a Temple of Meditation (never built) for the Maharajah of Indore. Later in 1938 his largest work was inaugurated—a complex of sculpture (including the enormous Endless Column, nearly 30 m (100 ft) high) for the public park at Tirgu Jiu near his birthplace. By the time of his death he was widely regarded as the greatest sculptor of the 20th century.

Brancusi's originality in reducing natural forms to their ultimate—almost abstract—simplicity had profound effects on the course of 20th-century sculpture. He introduced Modigliani to sculpture, Archipenko and Epstein owed much to him, and Gaudier-Brzeska was his professed admirer. Later, Carl Andre claimed to have been inspired by Endless Column, converting its repeated modules into his horizontal arrangements of identical units. More generally, Henry Moore wrote of Brancusi: ‘Since the Gothic, European sculpture had become overgrown with moss, weeds—all sorts of surface excrescences which completely concealed shape. It has been Brancusi's special mission to get rid of this undergrowth and to make us once more shape-conscious.’ On his death Brancusi bequeathed to the French Government his studio and its contents, which included versions of most of his best works (they often exist in multiple replicas in different materials). The studio has now been reconstructed at the Pompidou Centre in Paris. There is another outstanding Brancusi collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Constantin Brancusi , 1876–1957, Romanian sculptor. Brancusi is considered one of the foremost of modern artists. In 1904 he went to Paris, where he worked under Mercié. He declined Rodin's invitation to work in his studio. Because of his radical, economic style, his abstract sculptures, The Kiss (1908), Sleeping Muse (1910), and the portrait of Mlle Pogany (1923; Musée d'Art moderne, Paris) were the subjects of much controversy. He altered his technique from modeling to carving c.1910. In 1927 Brancusi won a lawsuit against the U.S. customs authorities who attempted to value his sculpture as raw metal. The suit led to legal changes permitting the importation of abstract art free of duty. Brancusi's work is notable for its extreme simplification of form, its organic and frequently symbolic character, and its consummate craftsmanship. He had a profound understanding of materials, working primarily in metal, stone, and wood. Bird in Space (1919; Mus. of Modern Art, New York City) is a characteristic work. Others are in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City, and in the museums of Chicago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia.

Bibliography: See catalogs by S. Geist (1969, 1975); biographies by I. Jianu (1963), R. Varia (1986), and E. Shanes (1989); studies by S. Geist (1968) and A. T. Spear (1969).

Brancusi, Constantin (1876–1957) French sculptor. His primitive style is revealed in a series of wooden sculptures, including Prodigal Son (1914), Sorceress (1916), and Chimera (1918). In 1919, his Bird in Space was not permitted into the USA as a work of art, but was taxed on its value as raw metal. This decision was reversed in a suit filed by Brancusi, and the sculpture is now housed in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Other works include The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Sculpture for the Blind (1924), and Flying Turtle (1943).