Modern Artist - Constantin Brancusi - Research Paper Example

Number] Modern Artist - Constantin Brancusi Constantin Brancusi was a Romanian sculptor who made his career in France. Since childhood he had great interest in carving wooded farm tools. He has been regarded as the pioneer of modernist art and sculpturing. Due to his remarkable contribution to the field of sculpture making he is also called Patriarch of Modern Sculpture (Eric, p12). His work is widely regarded as the work of the modern master. He has significantly contributed towards the art genre of sculpture making. He was strongly influenced from the African and oriental art and most of this work pieces also reflect his admiration towards them (Sandqvist, p109). Some of his prominent works include Sleeping Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite that is commonly called with the name The Endless Column (1938).Keeping in view his interesting in wood carving, initially he got the training as a carpenter and stonemason. However, when he settled in Paris he recognized his great interest and capabilities in sculpture making (Richler, p65). Brancusi has been regarded among the prominent central figures of the modern movements. He pioneered abstraction and paves the way towards the evolution of new genre in the field of art. Brancusi strived to make simple work pieced using few basic elements. He was also admired by the work of August Rodin however, he was most interested in searching for pure form and in the end he succeeded to convey the sense of gravity through his work pieces making from few basic elements. His art work is not only praised for the visual elegance but he also showed the sensitive use of material blended with direct peasant carving and Parisian Avant-grade (Sanda p30). His style was based upon his non-conventional approach towards art and creation of art pieces. He believes that main purpose of art work in to reveal the hidden truth behind different objects and not to present their appearances or outer impressions. He significantly contributed to the modern art because in his work he strived to provide insight to the reality behind different objects, people and animals. He believes in the originality of work and most of his masterpieces are also based upon his unique ideas rather depicting his admiration towards any other artist. He invented the style of his own that was widely followed by the artists. It is widely agreed by the art critics and experts that Brancusi has made significant contribution to the art genre of sculpture and his deserves to be remembered among the most brilliant and majestic figures in the history of art and sculpture making (Brezianu and Geist, p87). His paved the way for simplicity and depth in the expression of ideas through art work. He showed from his work that art does not requires the complex depiction of thoughts but it could also simply convey the thoughts to the audiences using basic materials. He wanted to present the true essence of his subject due to which the main focus of his work always remained towards simplicity and originality. Many of his works have been regarded abstract and it was widely revealed by the art critics that most of his work pieces reflect abstraction but he disagreed with this impression and always present his standpoint that his work actually represent fundamentalism through the depiction of reality rather focusing upon the fancy portrayal of the objects (Robert and Romany, p135). He spent the early days of his life in Hiboita Romania that was a place very rich in tradition of folk crafts. The people of the village were expert in woodcarving due to which Brancusi also developed interest towards this art. In his later works, the traces of the traditional art style of his village are clearly visible in form of different geometrical patterns. He got his formal education in Bucharest and Munich after which he moved to Paris (Matthew and Carmen, p71). He focused upon abstract style in his work and used clean geometrical lines balancing the material with symbolic allusions. His parents were poor peasants and could not afford special education for him however, at the age of 18 his woodcarving talent impressed an industrialist who gave him an opportunity to enter and get training from the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts (Sandqvist, p109). Brancusi graduated from the school in 1989. The time he spent in the school possesses great importance for his because he got proper training about the woodcarving techniques and become able to bring further improvement and refinement in his works. He was then enrolled in the Bucharest School of Fine Arts where he got the training in sculpture. He got this training from his teacher Dimitrie Gerota that allowed him creating sculpture to express his deep thoughts and ideas. After receiving these trainings, he decided to move towards France. In 1903, he went Munich and then moved towards Paris (Brezianu and Geist, p87). The art community in Paris welcomed him warmly and his new ideas and modern approach towards art was widely appraised by the people. During the beginning years of his stay in Paris he worked in the workshop of Antonin Mercié after which he was invited to work with Auguste Rodin in his studio. He was greatly admired by the work of Rodin however soon he realized that he would not be able to work on his own ideas and thoughts while working under Rodin and just after two months he decided to leave the Rodin studio (Matthew and Carmen, p71). There were certain revolutionary ideas in Brancusi mind that he was unable to work out in Rodin studio however, after leaving it he started working on his own ideas and soon he developed his own revolutionary and non-traditional style that became his identity in the world of art and sculpture making. The Prayer was his first commissioned work that was part of a gravestone memorial. In his works he decided to concentrate more towards carving rather focusing upon modelling in clay and plaster. Within few years he was mastered to work almost by carving. He completed his first work piece in 1908 in Paris and entitled it as The Kiss. Most of his word created during this phase reflects his preference towards abstraction (Brezianu and Geist, p87). He made several versions of Sleeping Muse and The Kiss through which he illustrates the simple form of different geometrical designs and sparse objects. He created many art pieces in Paris that were appraised by the people and art critics as well. His art work became popular and was widely appraised by the people of France, Romania and United States. At these places, different art lovers and collector bought and appraised his word especially the art collector John Quinn was great fan of his work who bought several art pieces created by Brancusi. However, the year 1913 brought him international fame and popularity when his work was exhibited in the Armory Show in New York City. In his Paris studio also, he made the arrangements for the exhibiting his sculptures. In his studio he also exhibited the individual works and their installation in form of body of photographs (Adams, p154). In 1920, he developed the sculpture of Princess X in the Salon. It was a phallic shaped piece of work about which Brancusi explained that it was an anonymous portrait. However, it was removed from the exhibition and it was widely viewed by the people that actually the portrait is of Princess Marie Bonaparte having link with Napoleon Bonaparte. In the portrait Brancusi attempted to represent her life as gleaming phallus that actually refers to her obsession with the penis and quest to achieve vaginal orgasm. The creation of this portrayed drew negative impact upon the reputation and image of Brancusi and it has been widely viewed as a sign of notorious reputation for him. After this he also started work on the group of sculptures under the title Bird in Space. In these sculptures he created simple shapes that represent a bird in flight. His works show the signs of the traditions of his birthplace because in these sculptures he portrayed Maiastra that was a beautiful golden bird and according to the Romanian folklore the bird has the capabilities to tell about the future and cure the blinds. He creates several versions of Bird in Flight using different material like marble and bronze. He also provided sculpture making training to the new artists. For instance, he hired Isamu Noguchi as his studio assistant in 1927 and taught him the carving of stone and wood. Along with time he got maturity of thoughts and depth in his work and he broadened his vision regarding the choice of subjects for creating the sculptures (Robert and Romany, p135). He started work on two ambitious public sculpture projects in 1931. The first one was an unrealized temple in India for the Maharajah of Indore whereas the second one was the installation his works Gate of the Kiss, Table of Silence and 100 foot tall cast iron version of Endless Column at of Tirgu Jiu Romania. These two projects significantly added to his popularity all over the globe and have got international recognition as the pioneer sculptor of the modern art era. He also worked on creating the World War I monument in his childhood place Targu-Jiu and finished it in 1938. After which he made several other sculptures that symbolize the sacrifice and courage of the Romanian civilians during the invasion of their land by the Germans in 1916. After that he mostly worked in his earlier themes and brought new dimensions and variation in to his work focusing upon the same themes. Brancusi died in 1957 when he was 81 years old. He left 1200 photographs and 215 sculptures behind him. His works are housed is different museums of New York, Romania and Washington. The contents of the studio of Brancusi were kept by the Museum of Art of the city of Paris after his death where it has been installed in its entirety as per the wish of Brancusi. His works also possess prominent signs of the tradition and folk rituals of his home town and the areas where he spent the days of his childhood. The essence of folklore, magic, myths and exotic culture could be clearly observed in his works. However, he depicted the tradition and old world using unique and modern style and approach towards art creation. In this way, his works present unique blend of traditional and modern creation. He gave much attention towards the selection of the medium because he believes that different raw material like marble, wood and metal etc. give specific touch and impression to the art work due to which it is very important to carefully select the material that could best represent the idea and expression intended by the artist (Robert and Romany, p135). The entire discussion could be sum up with the conclusion that Brancusi is among the pioneering sculptures of modern art era. He has divulges some very important lessons to the followers because though his work he has illustrated the potential of expressing reality and truth using basic elements. He went against the traditional style of sculpture making and made best use of his talent to create different masterpieces that always remind of his notable contribution and role in the modern art movement. He also show the possibilities of representing the traditional and old objects using modern style and proves that the depiction of tradition does not always requires following traditional style but the artist could present the real value of traditions and their vivacity with the help of refined material and modern style. His works, philosophies and thoughts regarding the creation of art pieces and depiction of ideas validate that he really deserves to be called pioneer sculpture of modern art era. Work Cited Adams, Laura S. A History of Western Art. 4th Ed. New York: McGraw–Hill, 2005. Brezianu, B. Geist, S. "The Beginnings of Brancusi". Art Journal, 25 (1): 15–25. 1965. Eric Shanes. Constantin Brancusi. Paris: Abbeville Press, 1989 Lewis, David Neville, Constantin Brancusi. London: Academy Editions; New York: St. Martin Press, 1974. Matthew Gale, Carmen Giménez. Constantin Brancusi: the essence of things. London: Tate, 2004 Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London: Scala Books, 1998. Robert Shulman. Romany Marie: The Queen of Greenwich Village. Louisville: Butler Books, 2006 Sanda Miller. Constantin Brancusi. New York: Reaktion Books, 2010 Tom Sandqvist. The Romanians of Cabaret Voltaire, NY: MIT Press, 2006. Read More