Constantin Brancusi
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Born in Pestisani, Romania 1876
Died in Paris, France 1957
Constantin Brancusi first studied sculpture at the School of Arts and Crafts in Craiova (1894–1898) and the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest (1898–1902). In 1904, Brancusi left Romania permanently, traveling through Budapest, Vienna, Munich, Zurich and Basel, before settling in Paris. There, he continued his training at the École des Beaux-Arts (1905–1907), during which he attracted the attention of French sculptor Auguste Rodin whom greatly influenced Brancusi’s novel approach to sculpture. In Paris, Brancusi inserted himself into a thriving community of artists and intellectuals that included Henri Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Fernand Léger and Marcel Duchamp. Among these major figures of Modernism, Brancusi emerged as a distinctive force in his pioneering approach to sculpture that reinvigorated the definition of the art object and its conceptual potential beyond its tangible means. Accordingly, Brancusi’s cross-fertilization of traditional and novel ideas paved the way for future generations of artists, including figures like Isamu Noguchi and Henry Moore, among others, and foreshadowed quintessential theories at the core of Minimalism and Conceptual Art.Brancusi made his debut in New York in 1913 at the Armory show, exhibiting five works that would propel modern sculpture to a new and radical trajectory. Over the following years, Brancusi’s reputation flourished in the United States, and especially in New York. "Without the Americans, I would not have been able to produce all this or even to have existed," Brancusi remarked to the New York Times while celebrating his first museum retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1955; the exhibition later traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Brancusi's second Guggenheim retrospective occurred in 1969, and was held in the museum’s Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda. Between 1934 until the end of his career, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, included works by Brancusi in more than ten exhibitions. In 1967, Brancusi’s work became the subject of his first retrospective at a French museum in Tribute to Brancusi at the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, which then presented a full-scale survey of his work in 1995.
In his will, Brancusi bequeathed a collection of his work to the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, with the condition that his studio be rebuilt as it stood when he died. The extant reconstruction is presented as a museum space containing the studio, on view opposite the Centre Georges Pompidou. More recently, Brancusi’s work has been the subject of major institutional surveys, including presentations at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2013); Fondation Beyeler, Basel (2011); Tate Modern, London (2004); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2003). At the present, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, is showcasing its rich collection of works by Brancusi.
Artwork © Succession Brancusi (2023) Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY/ ADAGP, Paris. -
Exhibitions
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Brancusi: The Photographer
May 16 – June 29, 2019Kasmin is pleased to announce Brancusi: The Photographer, organized in collaboration with Bruce Silverstein Gallery. The exhibition will be on view at 293 Tenth Avenue between May 16 - June 29, 2019, presented concurrently with Brancusi’s Flowers at Bruce Silverstein Gallery, on view at 529 West 20th Street.View More -
Brancusi & Duchamp: The Art of Dialogue
September 20 – December 22, 2018Brancusi & Duchamp: The Art of Dialogue, curated by art historian Paul B. Franklin, explores the aesthetic dialogue between Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957) and Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968), two of the most inimitable and innovative artists of the twentieth century. Bringing together over 90 sculptures, objects, photographs, films, and drawings from an international array of public and private collections, as well as a selection of rare archival documents, this exhibition is the first of its kind in any American museum or gallery. Brancusi & Duchamp: The Art of Dialogue aims to enrich our knowledge of the personal and creative conversation that sustained these two utterly singular artists for years.View More -
Impasse Ronsin
October 28, 2016 – January 14, 2017Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to announce the forthcoming exhibition, Impasse Ronsin, which will be on view at 515 West 27th Street from October 28th – January 14th, 2017. Taking as its focus the historic Parisian alley once home to the studios of Constantin Brancusi, William N. Copley, Max Ernst, Yves Klein, Les Lalanne, Larry Rivers, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely and numerous other seminal 20th-century artists, the exhibition will include work by these artists in an elaborate installation designed to embody the collaborative atmosphere of the Impasse Ronsin.View More -
Brancusi in New York 1913 – 2013
November 7, 2013 – January 24, 2014Paul Kasmin Gallery is pleased to present Brancusi in New York 1913 – 2013, an exhibition of works from the Brancusi Estate collection. The show celebrates Brancusi’s 100th anniversary in New York following his debut at the Armory Show in 1913, where the sculptor exhibited five works that directed modern sculpture on a radical new path.View More
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Publications
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Brancusi & Duchamp: The Art of Dialogue
2018Hardcover, 272 pagesView More
ISBN: 978-1-947232-00-6
Dimensions: 9.25 x 12.25 inches -
Brancusi New York: 1913–2013
2013Hardcover, 144 pagesView More
Publisher: Assouline
ISBN: 978-1-6142819-7-9
Dimensions: 13 x 10 -
Impasse Ronsin
2016Softcover, 240 pagesView More
ISBN: 978-0-9968134-4-0
Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 inches
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