Brancusi, Constantin (1876–1957)

Romanian sculptor. One of the main figures of 20th-century art, he revolutionized modern sculpture. Active in Paris from 1904, he was a pioneer of abstract sculpture, reducing a few basic themes such as birds, fishes, and the human head to simple essential forms appropriate to the special quality of his material, whether stone, bronze, or wood. His works include Sleeping Muse (1910; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris) and Bird in Space (1928; Museum of Modern Art, New York).

Brancusi was one of the first sculptors in the 20th century to carve directly from his material, working with stone, wood, and metal. He departed from convention in his treatment of wood, shaping it with axe or saw cuts, as in Prodigal Son (1915; Philadelphia Museum of Art). By contrast, his bronzes, such as Maiastra (1911; Tate Gallery, London), are sleek and highly polished.

Brancusi was born in southern Romania and studied in Bucharest. In 1904 he walked from Romania to Paris, where he worked briefly in the sculptor Auguste Rodin's studio. He began to explore direct carving in marble, producing many highly original versions of Rodin's The Kiss. By the 1930s he had achieved monumental simplicity with structures of simple repeated forms, as in Endless Column and other works commissioned for Târgu Jiu public park, Romania.