friend of Romany Marie, who was also Romanian, and referred Isamu Noguchi to
her café in Greenwich Village. Although surrounded by the Parisian avant-garde, Brâncuși never
lost the contact with Romania and had friends from the community of Romanian artists and
intellectuals
living
in
Paris,
including Benjamin
Fondane, George
Enescu, Theodor
Pallady, Camil Ressu, Nicolae Dărăscu, Panait Istrati,Traian Vuia, Eugène Ionesco, Emil
Cioran and Paul Celan.
Brâncuși held a particular interest in mythology, especially Romanian mythology, folk tales, and
traditional art (which also had a strong influence on his works), but he became interested in
African and Mediterranean art as well.
A talented handyman, he built his own
phonograph, and made most of his
furniture, utensils, and doorways. His
worldview valued "differentiating the
essential
from
with Plato, Lao-Tzu,
the
ephemeral,"
and Milarepa as
influences. He was a saint-like idealist
and near ascetic, turning his workshop
into a place where visitors noted the deep spiritual atmosphere. However, particularly through
the 10s and 20s, he was known as a pleasure seeker and merrymaker in his bohemian circle. He
enjoyed cigarettes, good wine, and the company of women. He had one child, John Moore,
whom