A passionate wood-carver… His beliefs in art were that all subjects were comprised of one or more of the following shapes: "the egg, the round pebble and the blade of grass".
"I do not aspire to be in fashion. For what is in fashion, goes out of fashion… If, on the contrary, your work is contested today, it doesn’t matter. For when it is finally understood, it will be for eternity."(Constantin Brancusi)
Constantin Brancusi (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was an internationally known Romanian sculptor, born in Hobita, near Targu-Jiu. His work is a mixture between simplicity and sophistication that led the way for modernist sculptors. Brancusi’s parents, Nicolae and Maria Brancusi, were poor peasants. Since he was a little boy, he showed remarkable talent for carving objects out of wood.
At the age of nine Brancusi left the village to work in the nearest large town. Four years later he went to Craiova where he worked at a grocery store for several years. When Constantin was eighteen, impressed by his talent for carving, his employer financed his education at the Craiova School of Crafts. Then he attended the Bucharest School of Fine Arts, where he received academic training in sculpture. In 1903 travelled to Munich and from there to Paris. Brancusi entered the École des Beaux-Arts and then worked for two years in the workshop of Antonin Mercié. After that, he was invited to enter the workshop of Auguste Rodin.
His first works were influenced by the imposing work of Rodin and he left after only two months, saying, "Nothing can grow under big trees."
After leaving Rodin’s workshop, Brancusi began developing the revolutionary style for which he is known. He sculpted a statue of a young girl kneeling, entitled "The Prayer", which was part of a gravestone memorial.
Rodin’s influence appeared in Brancusi’s work for one last time in 1908 in the first version of the "Sleeping Muse" (a sculpture of a woman’s face). In the same year Brancusi executed his first truly original work, "The Kiss". In the following few years he made many versions of "Sleeping Muse" and "The Kiss". In 1913 Brancusi’s work was displayed at both the Salon des Indépendants and the first exhibition in the U.S. of modern art, the Armory Show.
Five years later, he sculpted in wood the first version of the "Endless Column", Brancusi’s contribution to the Salon of 1920. "Princess X", a portrait of an imaginary person that takes on a curiously phallic form, created a scandal. Despite his explanation, the police intervened and forced him to remove the work because it led to improper interpretation. He began working on the group of sculptures that are known as "Bird in Space"- simple shapes representing a bird in flight.
After an important exhibition, Brancusi was involved in a two-year court case with U.S. customs officials because "Bird in Space" was so abstract that officials refused to believe it was sculpture. Constantin was accused of clandestinely introducing an industrial part into the United States.
He returned to Romania again in 1937 and in 1938 for the inauguration of three monumental works in a public garden in Tîrgu Jiu: new enormous steel versions of the "Endless Column", "Gate of the Kiss", "Table of Silence".
Brancusi was complex, mysterious, yet charming and voluble. He was short, jovial, wore beard and simple peasant clothes. His interests ran from science to music, and he was a talented singer and violinist. He was known also for the traditional Romanian meals he prepared. He enjoyed cigarettes, good wine and the company of women.
His circle of friends included artists and intellectuals in Paris such as Ezra Pound, Henri Pierre Roché, Guillaume Apollinaire, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Rousseau and Fernand Léger.
He died on March 16, 1957 at the age of 81 leaving 1200 photographs and 215 sculptures. He was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. Also located in that cemetery are statues carved by Brancusi for several fellow artists who died, the most famous of these is "The Kiss". His works can be seen in the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and in the National Museum of Art of Romania (Bucharest), as well as in other museums around the world.
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