Constantin Brancusi

1876–1957

Constantin Brancusi, ‘Maiastra’ 1911
Maiastra 1911
© ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2019
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In Tate Modern

Media Networks: Modern Times

Free entry
In Tate St Ives

Modern Art and St Ives: Paris, London and St Ives 1920–1940

Biography

Constantin Brâncuși (Romanian: [konstanˈtin brɨŋˈkuʃʲ] (listen); February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered a pioneer of modernism, one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century, Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1905 to 1907. His art emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Brâncuși sought inspiration in non-European cultures as a source of primitive exoticism, as did Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, André Derain and others. However, other influences emerge from Romanian folk art traceable through Byzantine and Dionysian traditions.

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Direct carving

Artworks

Constantin Brancusi, ‘Maiastra’ 1911

Constantin Brancusi Maiastra

1911
On display at Tate Modern part of Media Networks
Constantin Brancusi, ‘Danaïde’ c.1918

Constantin Brancusi Danaïde

c.1918
Constantin Brancusi, ‘Fish’ 1926

Constantin Brancusi Fish

1926
Constantin Brancusi, ‘Head’ c.1919–23

Constantin Brancusi Head

c.1919–23
On display at Tate St Ives part of Modern Art and St Ives

Film and audio

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Left Right
Constantin Brancusi, ‘Head’ c.1919–23
Art Term

Direct carving

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École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts is a French term meaning school of fine arts

Sir Jacob Epstein, ‘Portrait of Iris Beerbohm Tree’ 1915
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