Constantin Brâncuși (1876 – 1957) was a Romanian-French sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France.
Considered a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century, often called the patriarch of modern sculpture.
Born in a family of poor peasants, Brâncuși showed early talent for carving objects out of wood. Brancusi was trained as a sculptor in Romania before moving to Paris in 1904. There he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and exhibited at the Salon d’Automne.
Brâncuși quickly became accepted as a member of the Paris avant-garde, as his sculptures departed from the 19th century Western trend toward naturalism and eroticism, and were based instead on non-Western and so-called ‘primitive’ sculpture.
His sculptures were of two distinct types: elegant, abstract marble or bronze forms, such as the ‘bird’ sculptures based on a Romanian legend, and rougher carvings made of wood, like his series of ‘endless columns’.
Brâncuși was also known for paying special attention to the bases on which his sculptures were displayed, believing that the pedestal was part of the sculpture itself.
The artist aimed to depict in his sculpture “not the outer form but the idea, the essence of things”.
Though his art is regarded as abstract by many, he insisted that it was representational and disclosed a fundamental, often concealed, reality.
More of Constantin Brâncuși’s marvelous sculptures can be found at https://www.theartstory.org/artist/brancusi-constantin/ and https://www.wikiart.org/en/constantin-brancusi.
Humoring the Goddess 