Editing Constantin Brâncuși (section)

==Working in Paris==
[[File: Constantin Brancusi, 1907-08, The Kiss, Exhibited at the Armory Show and published in the Chicago Tribune, 25 March 1913..jpg|thumb|Constantin Brâncuși, 1907–08, ''[[The Kiss (Brâncuși)|The Kiss]]''. Exhibited in 1913 at the [[Armory Show]] and published in the ''Chicago Tribune'', March 25, 1913.]]

In 1903, Brâncuși traveled to [[Munich]], and from there to Paris. In Paris, he was welcomed by the community of artists and intellectuals brimming with new ideas.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/euwf/hod_1996.403.7ab.htm| title = Metropolitan Museum of Art website}}</ref> He worked for two years in the workshop of [[Antonin Mercié]] of the [[École des Beaux-Arts]] and was invited to enter the workshop of [[Auguste Rodin]]. Even though he admired the eminent Rodin he left the Rodin studio after only two months, saying, "Nothing can grow under big trees."<ref name=brainjuice/>

After leaving Rodin's workshop, Brâncuși began developing the revolutionary style for which he is known. His first commissioned work, ''The Prayer'', was part of a gravestone memorial. It depicts a young woman crossing herself as she kneels, and marks the first step toward abstracted, non-literal representation, and shows his drive to depict "not the outer form but the idea, the essence of things." He also began doing more carving, rather than the method popular with his contemporaries, that of modeling in clay or plaster which would be cast in metal, and by 1908 he worked almost exclusively by carving.

In the following few years, he made many versions of ''Sleeping Muse'' and ''[[The Kiss (Brâncuși)|The Kiss]]'', further simplifying forms to geometrical and sparse objects.

His works became popular in France, Romania, and the United States. Collectors, notably [[John Quinn (collector)|John Quinn]], bought his pieces, and reviewers praised his works. In 1913 Brâncuși's work was displayed at both the [[Salon des Indépendants]] and the first exhibition in the U.S. of modern art, the [[Armory Show]].

[[File:Edward Steichen - Brancusi's studio, 1920.jpeg|thumb|right|Brâncuși's Paris studio, 1920, photograph by [[Edward Steichen]]]]
In 1920, he developed a notorious reputation with the entry of ''[[Princess X]]''<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51035.html| title = Philadelphia Museum of Art, ''Princess X''}}</ref> in the [[Salon des Indépendants|Salon]]. The phallic appearance of this large, gleaming bronze piece scandalized the Salon and, despite Brâncuși's explanation that it was simply meant to represent the essence of womanhood, it was removed from the exhibition. ''Princess X'' was revealed to be [[Princess Marie Bonaparte]], direct descendant of the younger brother of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]. The sculpture has been interpreted by some as symbolizing her obsession with the penis and her lifelong quest to achieve vaginal orgasm, with the help of [[Sigmund Freud]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8ldqAAAAMAAJ&q=orgasm| title = Princess Marie Bonaparte, ''De la Sexualité de la Femme'', Grove Press, 1962| last1 = Bonaparte| first1 = Marie| year = 1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/action-culturelle/celebrations-nationales/recueil-2012/sciences-et-techniques/marie-bonaparte/| title = ''Marie Bonaparte'', Actions culturelle et pédagogique, Commémorations nationales, recueil 2012, Sciences et techniques, Archives de France}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://archive.org/details/drivesaffectsbeh00loew| title = Ryudolph Maurice Loewenstein, ed; Schur, Max, ed; Princess Marie Bonaparte, 1882–1962, ''Drives, affects, behavior'', New York,: International Universities Press}}</ref><ref>[[iarchive:rroseisr00bles|Jennifer Blessing; Judith Halberstam, 1961, ''Rrose is a rrose is a rrose : gender performance in photography'', 1961; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, N.Y.]]</ref>

Around this time, Brâncuși began crafting the bases for his sculptures with much care and originality because he considered them important to the works themselves.

One of his major groups of sculptures involved the ''[[Bird in Space]]'' — simple abstract shapes representing a bird in flight. The works are based on his earlier ''Măiastra'' series.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.guggenheim-venice.it/inglese/collections/artisti/dettagli/opere_dett.php?id_art=26&id_opera=47| title = ''Măiastra''}}</ref> In Romanian folklore the Măiastra is a beautiful golden bird who foretells the future and cures the blind. Over the following 20 years, Brâncuși made multiple versions of ''Bird in Space'' out of marble or bronze. [[Athena Tacha]] Spear's book, ''Brâncuși's Birds,'' (CAA monographs XXI, NYU Press, New York, 1969), first sorted out the 36 versions and their development, from the early ''[[Măiastra]]'', to the ''Golden Bird'' of the late teens, to the ''Bird in Space'', which emerged in the early 1920s and which Brâncuși developed throughout his life.

One of these versions caused a major controversy in 1926 when photographer [[Edward Steichen]] purchased it and shipped it to the United States. Customs officers did not accept the ''Bird'' as a work of art and assessed customs duty on its import as an industrial item. After protracted court proceedings, this assessment was overturned, thus confirming the Bird's status as a duty-exempt work of art.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.clubmoral.com/forcemental/16/page.php?sid=139|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621005339/http://www.clubmoral.com/forcemental/16/page.php?sid=139|url-status=dead|title=Force Metal ezine|archivedate=June 21, 2006}}</ref><ref>Tomkins, Calvin: ''Duchamp: A Biography'', pages 272, 275, 318. Henry Holt and Company, Inc, 1996.</ref> The verdict was somewhat influenced by the Judge Justice Waite's personal appreciation of the art calling it 'beautiful', 'symmetrical', and 'ornamental'.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 14, 2012|title=When Abstract Art Went on Trial: Brancusi v. United States|url=https://shellielewis.wordpress.com/2012/07/14/when-abstract-art-went-on-tril-brancusi-v-united-states/|access-date=January 26, 2021|website=Shellie Lewis' Blog|language=en}}</ref><ref>Brancusi v. United States (1927)</ref> The ruling also established the important principle that "art" does not have to involve a realistic representation of nature, and that it was legitimate for it to simply represent an abstract concept – in this case "flight".<ref>Thomas L Hartshorne, "Modernism on Trial: C Brancusi v United States (1928)", Journal of American Studies vol 129 No 1 (April 1986), 93</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Philip |last=McCouat|title=The Controversies of Brancusi|work= Journal of Art in Society|url=http://www.artinsociety.com/the-controversies-of-constantin-brancusi-princess-x-and-the-boundaries-of-art.html}}</ref>

[[File:Armory Show 2.jpg|thumb|left|260px|[[Armory Show]], 1913, North end of the exhibition, showing some of the modernist sculptures. In ''Arts Revolutionists of Today'' (1913), the caption for this photo reads: "At the left of the picture is a much-discussed portrait bust of Mlle. Pogany, a dancer, by Brâncuși. This freak sculpture resembles nothing so much as an egg and has excited much derision and laughter..."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/viewer/walt-kuhn-scrapbook-press-clippings-documenting-armory-show-vol-2-14643/41124| title = Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, ''Walt Kuhn scrapbook of press clippings documenting the Armory Show'', vol. 2, 1913, Page 135}}</ref>]]

His work became increasingly popular in the U.S, where he visited several times during his life. Worldwide fame in 1933 brought him the commission of building a meditation temple, the Temple of Deliverance, in India for the [[Maharaja]]h of [[Indore]], Yeshwant Rao Holkar. Holkar had commissioned three "L'Oiseau dans l'Espace"—in bronze, black and white marble—previously, but when Brâncuși went to India in 1937 to complete the plans and begin construction, the Mahrajah was away and, supposedly, lost interest in the project which was to be an homage to his wife, the Maharani Margaret Holkar,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Exhibitions|url=https://www.prahladbubbar.com/exhibitions/|access-date=January 12, 2023|website=Prahlad Bubbar}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=July 2023}} who had died when he returned.<ref>Tabart, Marielle, Doïna Lemny, Marie-Luce Nemo, Anne-Marie Zucchelli-Charron, Constantin Brancusi, Centre Georges Pompidou, and Atelier Brancusi (Paris). La collection l'Atelier Brancusi. Paris: Editions du Centre Pompidou, 1997, 53</ref> Of the three birds, the bronze one is in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nortonsimon.org/art/detail/F.1972.08.S|title = Bird in Space » Norton Simon Museum}}</ref> and the two marble birds are currently in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Australia <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nga.gov.au/collections/australia/gallery.cfm?DisplayGal=7a|title=Australian art}}</ref> in Canberra, Australia.

In 1938, he finished the [[World War I]] monument in [[Târgu-Jiu]] where he had spent much of his childhood. ''[[Table of Silence]]'', ''[[The Gate of the Kiss]]'', and ''[[Endless Column]]'' commemorate the courage and sacrifice of Romanians who in 1916 defended Târgu Jiu from the forces of the [[Central Powers]]. The restoration of this ensemble was spearheaded by the [[World Monuments Fund]] and was completed in 2004.

The [[Sculptural Ensemble of Constantin Brâncuși at Târgu Jiu|Târgu Jiu ensemble]] marks the apex of his artistic career. In his remaining 19 years he created fewer than 15 pieces, mostly reworking earlier themes, and while his fame grew, he withdrew. Brâncuși received his first retrospective in 1955 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.<ref>{{cite web|title=Constantin Brâncuși|url=https://www.theartstory.org/artist/brancusi-constantin/|access-date=August 18, 2022}}</ref> In 1955 [[Life magazine|''Life'' magazine]] reported, "Wearing white pajamas and a yellow gnome-like cap, Brâncuși today hobbles about his studio tenderly caring for and communing with the silent host of fish, birds, heads, and endless columns which he created."

Brâncuși was cared for in his later years by a Romanian refugee couple. He became a French citizen in 1952 in order to make the caregivers his heirs, and to bequeath his studio and its contents to the [[Musée National d'Art Moderne]] in Paris. In 2021, for IRCAM and Centre Pompidou's Festival Manifeste, the intermedial large-scale installation ''Infinite Light Columns / Constellations of The Future, tribute to Constantin Brancusi'' by artists duo [[Arotin And Serghei|Arotin & Serghei]] has been installed on Renzo Piano's IRCAM Tower on Centre Pompidou Square, on the opposite site to Brancusi's Studio.