Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer Constantin Brâncuși made his career in France where he once worked in Rodin’s workshop. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism, he was born in a small village near the Carpathian mountains in what was then known as the Romanian United Principalities and quickly developed an inordinate talent for carving farm tools. His are pure forms under no influence, for pure forms define the sculptures of Brâncuși who was also a major participant in the avant-garde art scene of Paris in the first half of the 20th century. He would become a French citizen in 1952 and would die in his studio in Paris in 1957. The exhibition, the first devoted to the great Romanian sculptor in his native Romania in over 50 years, is being played out at the National Museum of Art in Timișoara. Timișoara is the 2023 European Capital of Culture. 

The show, entitled Brâncuși: Romanian Sources and Universal Perspectives underscores the purity of his sculptures, evident in works like The Kiss, purity that he explored throughout his career. He would drop casting for carving early on in his career further magnifying the purity of his works. Known as the direct cut technique, it is evident in his 1907 work The Kiss which opens the show in Timisoara.  Another exceptional piece on show is his 1945 Border Marker, a sculpture which reflects the events in Romania between 1940 and 1945 when Romania lost parts of its territory. Busts of children and women and the series of Bird in Space, the first version of which, entitled Maiastra, a dazzlingly plumed bird straight out of Romanian folklore which the artist had a particular interest in, are also on show. His works became popular during his lifetime not only in France and Romania but also in  the United States and were displayed in the 1913 Armory Show in New York. He would visit the United States on several occasions throughout his life and his works are housed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, two of the country’s most prestigious cultural institutions.  He also crafted the bases for his sculptures, considering them to be an integral part of the work itself. 

In one of his workshop notes, probably written at an old age, Brâncuși shares his vision of a world without borders, in which all the natural elements — from beings and plants to geological phenomena — contribute to the harmony of creation: “My homeland, my family. It’s the earth that turns, the breath of wind, the floating clouds, the river flowing, the scorching fire, the green grass — the dry grass — dust, snow,”  he would write. 

Co-organized by the Timișoara National Museum of Art, the Art Encounters Foundation, and the French Institute, the exhibition is financed by the Timiș County Council and the main partner Banca Transilvania. The exhibition benefits from exceptional loans from the National Museum of Modern Art, Center Pompidou in Paris, Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Foundation. The exhibition is running until January 28th and is open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00am to 8:00pm. A retrospective of Brâncuși’s works will be held at the Pompidou Center in Paris in 2024, from March 27th until July 1st. https://timisoara2023.eu/en/locations/timisoara-art-museum/©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette