Constantin Brâncuşi - Romanian sculptor (1876 – 1957)
Constantin Brancusi - original name Romanian Constantin Brâncusi (born: February 19, 1876, Hobiţa – Peştişani - Gorj, Romania, died: March 16, 1957, Paris, France), pioneer of modern abstract sculpture whose works in bronze and marble are characterized by a restrained, elegant use of pure form and exquisite finishing.
A passionate wood-carver, he produced numerous wood sculptures, often with a folk flavour, and he frequently carved prototypes for works later executed in other materials. He is best known for his abstract sculptures of ovoid heads and birds in flight.
Early life and works
Constantin Brâncuşi’s parents, Nicolas and Maria Brâncuşi, were peasants who lived in the Romanian countryside; like other village children of that time, Constantin did not go to school. From the age of seven he worked as a herdsman, first watching the family flock, then working for other people in the Carpathian Mountains.
It was then that the young shepherd learned to carve wood, a popular art in rural Romania for making spoons, bedposts, cheese presses, and facades of homes, all of which were ornamented with carvings.
The style of these ornaments would influence several of Brancusi’s works. In his tastes, his bearing, and his way of life he would forever maintain the uncomplicated tastes of his origins.
When he was nine years old Constantin Brâncuşi went to Târgu Jiu, a town near Peştişani, in the Oltenia region of Romania, to look for work. First he worked for a dyer; two years later he went into the service of a grocer in Slatina; and then he became a domestic in a public house in Craiova, Oltenia’s chief town, where he remained for several years.
He retained his taste for working in wood and undertook elaborate carving projects, such as the construction of a violin from an orange crate. Such feats attracted the attention of an industrialist, who in 1894 entered him in the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts. In order to attend the school, Constantin Brâncuşi had to learn how to read and write on his own.
In 1896, at age 20, Constantin Brâncuşi began to travel for the first time: he went to Vienna on the Danube and hired himself out as a woodworker to earn money for his stay. Since his ambition was to be a sculptor, in 1898 he entered the contest for admission to the Bucharest School of Fine Arts and was admitted.
Although he was far more attracted to the work of the “independents” than to that of the academicians at his school, he nevertheless studied modeling and anatomy seriously.
In 1903, on his return from military service, Constantin Brâncuşi’s interest was aroused by the fame of Auguste Rodin, which had spread from Paris to Bucharest. Rodin’s audacious conceptions inspired the enthusiasm of the avant-garde and the indignation of the academicians.
The example of Rodin inspired Constantin Brâncuşi to become curious about what was going on in the art world beyond the boundaries of his country, and so he went to Munich, Germany, where he stayed until the spring of 1904.
He then decided to go to Paris, a costly trip for a man of modest means. He made the greater part of the trip on foot, with his pack on his back, and had to sell his watch to pay for a boat crossing on Lake Constance. He arrived in Paris in July.
Constantin Brâncuşi entered the École des Beaux-Arts, where he again entered an academician’s workshop, that of Antonin Mercié, who derived his work from Florentine Renaissance statuary. Brancusi worked with him for two years, but in order to earn a living he worked odd jobs. Orders for portraits from a few compatriots also helped him through difficult times.
In 1906 he exhibited for the first time in Paris, in the state-sponsored Salon and then at the Salon d’Automne. With a spirit that was still quite Classical but showing great energy, his first works were influenced by the sinewy work of Rodin. In order to get away from that influence, Constantin Brâncuşi refused to enter Rodin’s workshop, for, he said, “one can do nothing beneath great trees.”
In 1907, commissioned to execute a rich landowner’s funeral monument in the Buzau Cemetery in Romania, Constantin Brâncuşi sculpted a statue of a young girl kneeling, entitled The Prayer, which represented the first stage of his evolution toward simplified forms.
He participated for the first time in the Tinerimea Artistica exposition, an annual exhibition of new talent, in Bucharest, and rented a workshop in the Montparnasse area of Paris. Rodin’s influence appeared in Constantin Brâncuşi’s work for one last time in 1908 in the first version of the Sleeping Muse, a sculpture of a woman’s face in which the features suggest an unformed block of marble.
Also in 1908 Constantin Brâncuşi executed his first truly original work, The Kiss, in which the vertical figures of two entwined adolescents form a closed volume with symmetrical lines. In one of his first experiments with direct carving, he affirmed the pure, organic use of form that was to become his trademark and that would influence the work of numerous artists, most immediately a series of sculptures executed by his friend Amedeo Modigliani starting in 1910.
Maturity
In 1910 Constantin Brâncuşi executed a seminal version of the Sleeping Muse. The sculpture is an isolated, ovoid-shaped head executed in bronze, with details of the face drastically reduced so that the work has polished, pristine curves. Constantin Brâncuşi would experiment with this ovoid form frequently over the years in both plaster and bronze.
In 1924 he created a pure marble ovoid shape devoid of any detail entitled Beginning of the World; as the title suggests, for Brancusi, this ovoid mass represented the very essence of form, or a sort of primal foundation of form that the artist did not care to alter with traditional sculptural techniques of modeling.
Constantin Brâncuşi extended his experiments with simplifying forms to his exploration of the bird in 1912 with Maiastra, a sculpture named after a miraculous bird from Romanian popular legends. The first version of the work was made of marble, with the bird, purified in form, represented with its head raised in flight. Constantin Brâncuşi followed this with 28 other versions over the next two decades.
After 1919 his birds evolved into a series of polished-bronze sculptures, all entitled Bird in Space. The elliptical, slender lines of these figures put the very essence of rapid flight into concrete form.
During these years of radical experimentation, Constantin Brâncuşi’s work began to have an increasingly large, international audience.
In 1913, while continuing to exhibit in the Paris Salon des Indépendants, he participated in the Armory Show in New York, Chicago, and Boston, showing five works including Mademoiselle Pogany, a schematized bust that would have numerous variations. Already known in the United States, Constantin Brâncuşi found faithful collectors there over subsequent decades. Meanwhile, critics around the world attacked the radical nature of his work.
Above all, Brancusi loved carving itself, which required, he said, “a confrontation without mercy between the artist and his materials.” He often carved in oak or in chestnut objects that he would later treat in bronze or marble.
His work reflected the African tradition of direct carving. Indeed, like many avant-garde European artists at the time, Constantin Brâncuşi was interested in the “primitive” qualities of African arts. His first sculpture in wood, The Prodigal Son, in 1914, was very close to abstraction; it is a piece of rudely carved oak with the scarcely perceptible features of a human being. He would follow this path with a whole series of wood sculptures that are among his strangest works.
He attached great importance to the wooden base of a sculpture and always constructed it himself, sometimes out of five or six superimposed pieces. (Constantin Brâncuşi even constructed his furniture, most of his utensils, and his pipe with his own hands.)
In 1918 he sculpted in wood the first version of the Endless Column. Created through the repetition of superimposed symmetrical elements, this column, inspired by the pillars of Romanian peasant houses, embodied the need for spiritual elevation that Brancusi often expressed in his works.
Constantin Brâncuşi’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. The police intervened and forced him to remove the work because it led to improper interpretation. In 1922 he sculpted the first versions of The Fish in marble and the Torso of a Young Man in wood.
He returned to Romania for the first time in 1924, and in 1926 he visited the United States for an important exhibition of his works at the Brummer Gallery in New York.
His shipments from France involved him in a two-year court case with U.S. customs officials because a work in copper, Bird in Space, was so abstract that officials refused to believe it was sculpture: Brancusi was accused of clandestinely introducing an industrial part into the United States. In 1928 he again traveled to the United States, where he had numerous buyers, and won his court case.
Late life and works
The Maharajah of Indore went to see Constantin Brâncuşi in Paris in 1933 and commissioned him to create a temple that would house his sculptures. Brancusi worked several years to create this temple, and in 1937 he went to India on the maharajah’s invitation. The latter’s death, however, prevented Brancusi from realizing the project. In the meantime Constantin Brâncuşi had returned to New York for a new exhibit at the Brummer Gallery in 1933, and in 1934 he participated in the exhibition “20th Century Painting and Sculpture” at the Chicago Renaissance Society.
He returned to Romania again in 1937 and in 1938 for the inauguration of three monumental works in a public garden in Târgu Jiu: new enormous steel versions of the Endless Column, Gate of the Kiss, and Table of Silence.
In 1939 Constantin Brâncuşi made his last trip to the United States to participate in the “Art in Our Time” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
He continued to explore his favourite themes in his late years, including the bird. His last important work was the Flying Turtle in 1943. Henceforth, numerous exhibitions in the United States and in Europe would secure his fame. The largest was an exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City in 1955. By a naturalization decree dated June 13, 1952, he acquired French citizenship.
Constantin Brâncuşi willed to the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris everything his workshop contained (more than 80 sculptures) on the condition that the workshop itself be moved to the museum and restored to its original condition. Part of this gift included hundreds of photographic prints he took, beginning in the 1920s, of his work and studio.
Rezumat în limba română – Sculptorul crestin si român Constantin Brâncuşi la 140 de ani de la naşterea sa…
Născut în data de 19 februarie 1876, Constantin este al şaselea copil al lui Nicolae şi Maria Brâncuşi. Prima clasă primară o face la Peştişani, judeţul Gorj, apoi continuă şcoala la Brădiceni. Copilăria este marcată de dese plecări de acasă și ani lungi de ucenicie în ateliere de boiangeri si prăvălii.
După ce a urmat Şcoala de Arte şi Meserii în Craiova (1894 – 1898) vine la Bucureşti unde absolvă Şcoala de Belle-Arte în anul 1902. În timpul studentiei, chiar în primul an, în anul 1898, lucrarea sa Bustul lui Vitellius obtine „mentiune onorabilă”, Cap al lui Laocoon din anul 1900 obtine medalia de bronz, iar Studiu din anul 1901, câstigă medalia de argint.
Timp de doi ani, între anii 1900 si 1902, cu ajutorul doctorului Dimitrie Gerota, realizează „Ecorseu”, un studiu pentru reprezentarea corpului omenesc, lucrare căreia i se atribuie o medalie de bronz. Precizia detaliilor acestei lucrări va face ca Ecoreul să fie folosit în scolile românesti de medicină, după ce se vor face câteva copii, iar Marcel Duchamp va include fotografia Ecorseului în expozitia pe care o va organiza la sfârsitul anului 1933 la Galeria Brummer din New York City.
În anul 1903, primeşte prima comandă a unui monument public, bustul generalului medic Carol Davila, care va fi instalat la Spitalul Militar din Bucuresti si reprezintă singurul monument public al lui Constantin Brâncusi din Bucuresti. Pleacă în anul 1904 la studii la München, dar după sase luni o porneste pe jos prin Bavaria, Elvetia până la Langres, în Franta, de unde ia trenul până la Paris.
În anul 1905 reuseste la concursul de admitere la prestigioasa École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, unde lucrează în atelierul lui Antonin Mercié până în anul 1906 când, atingând limita de vârstă, părăseste scoala. Refuză să lucreze ca practician în atelierul lui Auguste Rodin, rostind cuvintele devenite celebre, „Rien ne pousse ŕ l’ombre des grands arbres” (La umbra marilor copaci nu creste nimic).
Expune pentru prima dată la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts si la Salon d’Automne din Paris în anul 1906. Creează în anul 1907 prima versiune a Sărutului, temă pe care o va relua sub diferite forme până în anul 1940, culminând cu Poarta Sărutului parte a Ansamblul Monumental din Târgu Jiu.
În anul 1907 închiriază un atelier în Rue de Montparnasse si intră în contact cu avantgarda artistică pariziană, împrietenându-se cu Guillaume Apollinaire, Fernand Léger, Amedeo Modigliani, Marcel Duchamp. Va începe lucrul la Rugăciunea, o comandă pentru un monument funerar ce va fi expusă în Cimitirul „Dumbrava” de la Buzău.
În anul 1909 revine pentru scurt timp în România si participă la „Expozitia oficială de pictură, sculptură si arhitectură”. Juriul Expozitiei, prezidat de Spiru Haret acordă premiul II ex aequo lui Constantin Brâncusi, Paciurea, Steriadi, Petrascu, Theodorescu-Sion. Colectionarul de artă Anastase Simu îi cumpără sculptura Somnul iar bustul în ghips al pictorului Nicolae Dărăscu este achizitionat de Ministerul Instructiunii Publice.
Până în anul 1914, participă cu regularitate la expoztii colective din Paris si Bucuresti, inaugurând ciclurile Păsări Măiestre, Muza adormită, Domnisoara Pogany.
În anul 1914, Constantin Brâncusi deschide prima expozisie în Statele Unite ale Americii la Photo Secession Gallery din New York City, care provoacă o enormă senzatie. Colectionarul american John Quin îi cumpără mai multe sculpturi, asigurându-i o existentă materială prielnică creatiei artistice. În acelasi an, ministrul de interne al României respinge proiectul monumentului lui Spiru Haret comandat cu un an înainte. Brâncuși va păstra lucrarea în atelier și o va intitula Fântâna lui Narcis.
În anul 1915, începe să execute primele lucrări în lemn: 2 Cariatide, Fiul risipitor etc. La Paris, în anul 1919, apare volumul „La Roumanie en images” cu cinci reproduceri după lucrări ale lui Brâncusi. Un an mai târziu, participă la expoziția grupării „La Section d’Or” în Franta, la expozitia grupării „Arta română” la invitatia lui Camil Ressu în România, la „Festivalul Dada”, unde semnează manifestul intitulat Contre Cubisme, contre Dadaiseme. În revista Little Review din New York, apare, în anul 1921, primul studiu de amploare cu 24 de reproduceri din opera lui Constantin Brâncuși, semnat de poetul american Ezra Pound. De altfel, sculptorul avea să realizeze ulterior un celebru portret al acestuia.
Participă la o miscare de protest contra lui André Breton si în apărarea lui Tristan Tzara. La 30 noiembrie 1924, expune la Prima expozitie internatională a grupării „Contemporanul” din Bucuresti. Doi ani mai târziu, la Wildenstein Galleries, din New York, se deschide cea de-a doua expozitie personală a sa.
Până în anul 1940, activitatea creatoare a lui Constantin Brâncusi se desfăsoară în toată amploarea ei. Operele sale de seamă din ciclul Pasărea în văzduh, ciclul Ovoidului precum si sculpturile în lemn datează din această perioadă. În acelasi timp, Constantin Brâncuși participă la cele mai importante expozisii colective de sculptură din Statele Unite ale Americii, Franta, Elvetia, Olanda, Anglia.
În atelierul său din Impasse Ronsin, în inima Parisului, Constantin Brâncusi si-a creat o lume a lui, cu un cadru si o atmosferă românească. Muzeul National de Artă Modernă din Paris (Centre Pompidou) are un număr important de lucrări ale lui Constantin Brâncuși, lăsate prin testament mostenire României, dar acceptate cu bucurie de Franta, împreună cu tot ce se afla în atelierul său, după refuzul guvernului comunist al României anilor 1950 de a accepta lucrările lui Constantin Brâncusi după moartea sculptorului.
În România, în epoca realismului socialist, Constantin Brâncusi a fost contestat ca unul din reprezentantii formalismului burghez cosmopolit. Totusi, în decembrie 1956, la Muzeul de Artă al Republicii din Bucursti s-a deschis prima expoziție personală Brâncusi din Europa. Abia în anul 1964 Constantin Brâncusi a fost „redescoperit” în România ca un geniu national si, în consecintă, ansamblul monumental de la Târgu Jiu cu Coloana (recunostintei) fără sfârsit, Masa tăcerii și Poarta sărutului a putut fi amenajat și îngrijit, după ce a fost lăsat în paragină un sfert de veac și fusese foarte aproape de a fi fost dărâmat.
Locul lui Constantin Brâncusi în sculptură precum şi mesajul spiritual al acesteia
Constantin Brâncusi a eliberat sculptura de preponderensa imitatiei mecanice a naturii, a refuzat reprezentarea figurativă a realitătii, a preconizat exprimarea esentei lucrurilor, a vitalitătii formei, a creat unitatea dintre sensibil si spiritual. În opera sa, Constantin Brâncusi a oglindit felul de a gândi lumea a săranului român. Prin obârsia sa tărănească, si-a aflat rădăcinile adânci ale operei sale în traditiile, miturile si functia magică a artei populare românesti. Constantin Brâncuși a relevat lumii occidentale dimensiunea sacră, spirituală a realitătii.
Figură centrală în miscarea artistică modernă, Constantin Brâncusi este considerat unul din cei mai mari sculptori ai secolului al XX-lea. ssi utilizarea sensibilă a materialelor, combinând simplitatea artei populare românesti cu rafinamentul avantgardei pariziene.
Verticalitatea, orizontalitatea, greutatea, densitatea cât si importanta acordată luminii si spatiului sunt trăsăturile caracteristice ale creatiei lui Constantin Brâncusi.
Opera sa a influentat profund conceptul modern de formă în sculptură, pictură si desen.
În anul 1957, Constantin Brâncusi îl cheamă pe arhiepiscopul Teofil Ionescu, slujitor la biserica ortodoxă românească, se spovedeste si se împărtăseste, apoi îi mărturiseste că moare „cu inima tristă pentru că nu mă pot întoarce în tara mea” .
La data de 16 martie 1957, Constantin Brâncusi se stinge din viată la ora 2 dimineata, iar în data de 19 martie este înmormântat la cimitirul Montparnasse din Paris.
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Dr. Stelian Gomboş 4/1/2016 |
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