Constantin Brancusi Exhibition
The Museum of Modern Art
This event has ended.
Floor Two, Paul J. Sachs Galleries
The Museum of Modern Art charts Constantin Brancusi’s achievements and innovations in sculpture through the focused presentation Constantin Brancusi Sculpture, on view from July 22, 2018, through February 18, 2019. This concentrated survey largely comprises MoMA’s holdings of Brancusi’s work, which demonstrate the artist’s singular approach to materials, among them bronze, stone, and wood. In this exhibition, 11 sculptures by the artist will be shown together for the first time, alongside drawings, photographs, and films—extensions of his sculptural endeavors. Also on view is a selection of archival materials that sheds light on the artist’s working process and his relationships with friends, sitters, and patrons, including this Museum. Constantin Brancusi Sculpture is organized by Paulina Pobocha, Associate Curator, with Mia Matthias, Curatorial Fellow, Department of Painting and Sculpture.
Born in rural Hobiţa, Romania, Brancusi came to art through an immersion in craft; in his youth he learned direct carving techniques, eventually becoming a skilled woodworker. In 1904 he moved to Paris, where he studied at the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts and then briefly assisted Auguste Rodin. Brancusi established his own studio at the Impasse Ronsin soon after and quickly immersed himself in avant-garde art circles. While Rodin and his peers were making sculpture by modeling clay and casting it in bronze, Brancusi carved his work directly from sandstone, travertine, and marble, relying on the techniques learned in his youth. With this method, Brancusi created imaginative and formally reductive works that evoke rather than resemble the subjects named in their titles.
Media
Schedule
from July 22, 2018 to June 15, 2019