The main reason why I've chosen this topic is because Brandusi is one of the greatest names in world sculpture who insisted on the fact that he was Romanian though he created in Paris. His motifs are still Romanian no matter the distance between him and the mother-country, and this is a reason for praising him.

The Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi was born of peasant parents in Pestisani, Southern Romania on February 21st, 1876. Constantin Brancusi made the earliest and sharpest break in the modern movement of abstraction. He defined new forms by carving in wood and stone. His simple, exquisite forms reflect attitudes of modern art. Although a pioneer of modern art, Brancusi was the least public and the most withdrawn artist. He spent his working life mostly in the solitude of his studio. He allowed nothing to interfere with his work. To the few writers he permitted to see him he would say "Promise not to write about me until I am dead." His life was simple and completely dedicated to his work. His way of work was a concentrated dialogue between himself and his material which gradually took forms. His passion for a direct and simple contact with life referred to his sculpture and everything he did. By his carving he felt that he got closer and more intimate with the material. All his work, both in wood and stone, reflects his love for life, the force and freshness of the images of the world around him. His work was presented and appreciated at different exhibitions around the world: France (Paris), USA (New York & Chicago), Switzerland (Zurich & Yverdon), India, and certainly Romania. He died in his studio in Paris on March 16th, 1957.

The Kiss, 1912, stone

The Kiss was a sculpture to crown the headstone over the ivy-covered grave of a friend, in the Cimetiere Montparnasse. It shows a man and a women in close embrace. With The Kiss Brancusi presents death and life as an inseparable duality - two opposites, man and woman.

Mademoiselle Pogany, 1913, bronze

Brancusi was close friend with Modigliani, the painter, who influenced Brancusi's work. From this relationship and from the many figures that Modigliani used in his paintings, Brancusi carved Mademoiselle Pogany (modeled after a Hungarian painter he knew in Paris), with stylised features.

Bird in space, 1922, marble

It is an even more stylisation of Leda. From the inverted triangle of the tail and legs, the eye travels upwards rapidly to the oval form of the body, and from this springs the curve of the neck. The columnar sturdiness of the lower part contrasting with with the full rotundity of the body, and the tense reaching curve of the neck, the rhythms change sudenlly reaching up and put into the space as an open and loud cry of triumph.

Endless column, 1937, steel

One of the three elements of the Tirgu-Jiu ensamble along with the Table and Chairs and the Gate of the Kiss. The erection of the largest of his Endless Columns is found in Romania, in Tirgu-Jiu, near his birthplace, in a public garden. This gilt steel Endless Column rises 98 feet high like a tree of prayer ascending towards heaven.

Table and Chairs, 1937, stone

It is part of the Tirgu-Jiu ensamble along with the Endless Column and the Gate of the Kiss. The table and the chairs are placed in a open space in the center of the garden, which gives the idea of gathering and the bonding between people. Brancusi named it The Table of Silence as pseudo-communication or pseudo-memory. The 12 chairs are inverted 8 shapes which bring to mind the idea of Christianity; the cross is seen as a 8 shape. The seats can be seen from above as cosmic satellits or as the 12 hours of a watch representing time (the chairs, as well as the column, have an hourglass shape suggesting time).

The Gate of the Kiss, 1935-1937, stone

The third element of the Tirgu-Jiu ensamble along with the Endless Column and the Table and Chairs. Ornamental gates are very popular in Romania, and many country houses are decorated with such gates. The gate does not open or close anything and one can pass under it or around it, but represents rather the pass from a space to another bigger and more open space - a life space. The Gate represents also a respect for the Romanian traditions.

Silviu Draganescu

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