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Lot Essay
“What my work is aiming at is, above all, realism: I pursue the inner, hidden reality, the very essence of objects in their own intrinsic fundamental nature; this is my only deep preoccupation.”- Constantin Brâncuși
Romanian-born sculptor Constantin Brâncuși is regarded as a modernist pioneer. The artist spent most of his career in Paris after arriving at age twenty-eight during the summer of 1904 and would continue his sculpture studies at the École des Beaux-Arts. Around this time he also began working as a technician in Auguste Rodin’s studio and although his tenure at the studio was short, it was pivotal to his aesthetic development. The experience showed him where to break out of his classic academic training and incited him to develop a new artistic practice that daringly contrasted the work of those before him. Instead of working from clay models, he began direct carving into stone and wood. He rebelled against Rodin’s naturalism in favor of simplicity, abstraction, and non-representation. Without Brâncuși subverting the traditional conventions, much of the sculpture today would not exist (Exhibition Catalog, Constantin Brancusi: The Essence of Things, Tate, London, 2004).
Brâncuși was a master artisan and craftsman who saw and treated each of his works as unique rather than a component of a set edition. He believed that "an artist should always do his own chores," and finished each sculpture himself. With the tenacity with which Brancusi approached his work, it is no wonder that he would take the documentation of it into his own hands. Brâncuși began making photographs of his works as early as 1905 and, in his lifetime, would create over 1,300 prints. After meeting the sculptor shortly after he arrived in Paris in 1921, Man Ray recalls Brâncuși showing him a picture Alfred Stieglitz had taken of his work, "it was a beautiful photograph, he said, but it did not represent his work. Only he himself would know how to photograph it." Man Ray would go on to help him acquire the equipment necessary for him to make and print his photographs, “sometime later he showed me his prints. They were out of focus, over or underexposed, scratched and spotty. This, he said, was how his work should be reproduced. Perhaps he was right…” (Exhibition Catalog, Brancusi: Photo Reflection, ADAGP, Paris, 1991, p. 141.
Photography allowed Brâncuși to share a tangible vision of his sculptures through his lens, the photographs an inherent exhibition of his ideal display. His pictures make it clear to the viewer how he wished the simplicity of his sculptures to be understood, translating the experience of viewing his three-dimensional work into stand-alone compositions. The present lot, La Muse Endormie, displays his sculpture of the same title precisely as he intended. Brâncuși presents his famous sleeping muse resting peacefully, the camera positioned at an angle to place the ovoid head in the frame as if it were resting on a pillow. He crops in close, creating a sense of intimacy and still time. He creates a softness through the subtle way the light wraps around the head, and the sculpture's placement in a voided space adds to the dreamlike surrealness.
La Muse Endormie has inspired and influenced several pieces of art and sculpture, including most notably Man Ray's famous portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse, Noire et Blanche, 1926. Man Ray places Kiki's resting head in an almost faithful homage to that of Brancusi's sculpture as he presented in this photograph, showing his friend that he understood his vision.
Romanian-born sculptor Constantin Brâncuși is regarded as a modernist pioneer. The artist spent most of his career in Paris after arriving at age twenty-eight during the summer of 1904 and would continue his sculpture studies at the École des Beaux-Arts. Around this time he also began working as a technician in Auguste Rodin’s studio and although his tenure at the studio was short, it was pivotal to his aesthetic development. The experience showed him where to break out of his classic academic training and incited him to develop a new artistic practice that daringly contrasted the work of those before him. Instead of working from clay models, he began direct carving into stone and wood. He rebelled against Rodin’s naturalism in favor of simplicity, abstraction, and non-representation. Without Brâncuși subverting the traditional conventions, much of the sculpture today would not exist (Exhibition Catalog, Constantin Brancusi: The Essence of Things, Tate, London, 2004).
Brâncuși was a master artisan and craftsman who saw and treated each of his works as unique rather than a component of a set edition. He believed that "an artist should always do his own chores," and finished each sculpture himself. With the tenacity with which Brancusi approached his work, it is no wonder that he would take the documentation of it into his own hands. Brâncuși began making photographs of his works as early as 1905 and, in his lifetime, would create over 1,300 prints. After meeting the sculptor shortly after he arrived in Paris in 1921, Man Ray recalls Brâncuși showing him a picture Alfred Stieglitz had taken of his work, "it was a beautiful photograph, he said, but it did not represent his work. Only he himself would know how to photograph it." Man Ray would go on to help him acquire the equipment necessary for him to make and print his photographs, “sometime later he showed me his prints. They were out of focus, over or underexposed, scratched and spotty. This, he said, was how his work should be reproduced. Perhaps he was right…” (Exhibition Catalog, Brancusi: Photo Reflection, ADAGP, Paris, 1991, p. 141.
Photography allowed Brâncuși to share a tangible vision of his sculptures through his lens, the photographs an inherent exhibition of his ideal display. His pictures make it clear to the viewer how he wished the simplicity of his sculptures to be understood, translating the experience of viewing his three-dimensional work into stand-alone compositions. The present lot, La Muse Endormie, displays his sculpture of the same title precisely as he intended. Brâncuși presents his famous sleeping muse resting peacefully, the camera positioned at an angle to place the ovoid head in the frame as if it were resting on a pillow. He crops in close, creating a sense of intimacy and still time. He creates a softness through the subtle way the light wraps around the head, and the sculpture's placement in a voided space adds to the dreamlike surrealness.
La Muse Endormie has inspired and influenced several pieces of art and sculpture, including most notably Man Ray's famous portrait of Kiki de Montparnasse, Noire et Blanche, 1926. Man Ray places Kiki's resting head in an almost faithful homage to that of Brancusi's sculpture as he presented in this photograph, showing his friend that he understood his vision.