Art and Culture
ROMANIA
Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures under the mellow autumn sun
By Catalina
Constantin Brâncu?i (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanianborn sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for
carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich,
then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His abstract style emphasizes
clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic
allusions of representational art. Famous Brâncu?i works include the Sleeping
Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The
Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite), popularly known
as The Endless Column (the pioneer of modernism, Brâncu?i is called the patriarch of
modern sculpture. 1938).
His works became popular in France, Romania and the United States. Collectors, notably
John Quinn, bought his pieces, and reviewers praised his works. In 1913 Brâncu?i’s work
was displayed at both the Salon des Indépendants and the first exhibition in the U.S. of
modern art, the Armory Show.
His Work from Targu-Jiu, Romania
The Gate of Kiss, which is
located in the alley to the
city park entrance is
carved from porous
stone, extracted from
quarries located nearby,
consisting of thick
columns, rectangular,
supporting an architrave
with dimensions larger
than the column, with
width 6.45 m, height of
5.13 m and a thickness
of 1.69 m. Gate of the
Kiss looks like a
triumphal arch,
symbolizing the triumph
of life over death.
!
The Endless Column
(often it is called the
Column of Infinite)
symbolizes the “Infinite
Sacrifice” of the
Romanian soldiers and it
is considered by Sydnei
Geist the top point of
modern Art. The Endless
Column stacks 17
rhomboidal modules, with
a half-unit at the top. The
incomplete top unit is
thought to be the
element that expresses
the concept of the
infinite. Brâncu?i had
experimented with this
form as early as 1918,
with an oak version now
found in the collection of
the Museum of Modern
Art in New York.
The Table of Silence,
alongside The Gate of the
Kiss and The Endless
Column is one of the
three parts of the
Monumental Ensemble
from Targu Jiu. The Table
of Silence, worked in
limestone, is represented
by a circular arrangement
of 12 seats, which the
sculptor meant to
symbolize the twelve
apostles around Christ.
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