Constantin Brancusi

(1876 – 1957)

was a Romanian sculptor, one of the first great world creators in the modern art.

He settled in Paris in 1904 where his early influences included African as well as oriental art. Although Rodin was another early influence, Brancusi decided he wished to make much simpler work and began an evolutionary search for pure form. While never entirely rejecting the natural world, Brancusi undoubtedly succeeds in conveying a sense of gravity by reducing his work to a few basic elements. Paradoxically, this process also tends to highlight the complexity of thought that has gone into its making. In contrast to his many polished works in marble and bronze are his roughly hewn works in wood.

Some of his creations are:

Sarutul (Kiss) – 1907

Pasarea maiastra  (Magic bird) - 1910

Domnisoara Pogany (Miss Pogany) - 1912-1933, Exposed at The Museum of Modern Art, New York

          

Masa tacerii (Silence table)

Poarta sarutului (The kiss gate)

Coloana infinitului (Endless column) – in the Public garden of Targu Jiu city, Romania

(It ensures the communication with the sky and so it will ease the rising of the heroes souls which have made the final sacrifice for the country defence)

His opera point to his preferences for archaic art values, for the Black and Maori tribes' art. It was about this time that he made friends with Amedeo Modigliani. Painter Henri Rousseau, one of his friends, prophesied when telling to Brancusi: "You made the ancient be modern". His fame spread and success waited for him in New York. He travelled to the USA in 1913 for participating in the International Exhibition of Modern Art. During his later years, he polished the surface of his earlier works. Monumental, subtle and intimate, Brancusi's sculptures are rightly now considered to be the work of a modern master."