Constantin Brâncuși (Romanian: [konstanˈtin brɨŋˈkuʃʲ] ; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism, 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's practice drew from Romanian folk art, and sought a great deal of inspiration in non-European cultures as a source of primitive exoticism, as did Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, André Derain, and others.
Childhood and education in Romania
Constantin Brâncuși was born on February 19, 1876, in the village of Hobița, in Gorj County. His parents were Nicolae Radu and Maria Brâncuși. The family supported itself through farming, raising livestock, and woodworking skills passed down through generations.
He attended primary school in Peștișani from 1884 to 1887. At the age of eleven, he left his family home and went to Târgu Jiu. For a few months, he worked for a dyer named Moscu, who taught him to prepare vegetable dyes and color wool for carpets. He later worked at a café. After spending some time with his half-brother Ion, who ran an inn in Peștișani, Brâncuși moved to Craiova in 1889. He worked in a warehouse and found employment at a grocery store in Slatina in September 1892.
In Craiova, his skill with wood drew attention. At eighteen, he made a violin from materials he found at his workplace. In 1894, he entered the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts. He studied drawing, modeling, woodcarving, and cabinetmaking, completing the course in 1898.
That year, he entered the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest. For the entrance examination, he made a charcoal drawing of a plaster reproduction of Laocoön and His Sons, which he studied again in clay and plaster in 1900. His training included anatomy lessons with the physician Dimitrie Gerota. The Écorché, completed under Gerota's direction, shows a man without skin, exposing the musculature. The work was exhibited at the Romanian Athenaeum in 1903.
Brâncuși received his diploma in 1902. He completed a year of military service and continued working in the school's studio. In 1903, he was commissioned to make a monument to the physician and general Carol Davila. He modeled the bust in plaster. It was cast in bronze and installed in front of the Military Hospital in Bucharest. The work retained the academic portrait style of his student years.
Later in 1903, he left Bucharest for Western Europe. He walked much of the journey and worked along the way to support himself. He passed through Vienna, Munich, and Basel, where he stayed for a time, and arrived in Paris on July 14, 1904.
Study in Paris and break with Rodin
During his first months in Paris, Brâncuși worked as a dishwasher at the Brasserie Chartier. When money was scarce, he assisted at services in the Romanian Orthodox church on rue Jean-de-Beauvais. In June 1905, he passed the entrance examination for the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied in the sculpture class of Antonin Mercié. He received an annual scholarship from the Romanian Ministry of Education from 1905 to 1908.
In 1906, he exhibited for the first time at the salon of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and at the Salon d'Automne. His works included the plaster sculptures L'Enfant and L'Orgueil. At the following salon of the Société Nationale, he exhibited Le Supplice, a portrait of Nicolae Dărăscu, and two heads of children.
In March 1907, Brâncuși began working as an assistant to Auguste Rodin. He remained in Rodin's studio for only a few weeks. He preferred to find his own path and summed up the decision with the words, "Nothing grows in the shade of large trees."
Soon afterward, he received a commission for a funerary monument to Petre Stănescu at Dumbrava Cemetery in Buzău. The design joined a bust of Stănescu with the kneeling figure The Prayer. The size of the sculptures required a ground-floor workspace. In March 1908, Brâncuși rented a studio at 54 rue du Montparnasse, near the painter and photographer Edward Steichen. He remained there until 1916.
Between 1908 and 1910, Baroness Renée Frachon posed for Brâncuși. The sittings led to La Baronne R.F. and the first forms of Sleeping Muse. He reduced the face to a few lines on a reclining, ovoid head.
Brâncuși also moved away from modeling works in clay or plaster for casting. He began carving stone and wood directly, although he continued to make plaster and bronze versions. The methods he had learned in Romania remained present in his handling of tools and his sustained contact with the material.
Studios, friendships, and portraits
From 1908, Brâncuși spent time with artists and writers working in Paris, including Amedeo Modigliani, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp, Henri Rousseau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Alexander Archipenko, and Henri Matisse. He met Modigliani in 1909 through the collector Paul Alexandre. The Italian artist drew his portrait in black and red pencil that year.
He remained in contact with Romanian artists, musicians, and writers living in France, among them George Enescu, Theodor Pallady, Camil Ressu, Nicolae Dărăscu, Benjamin Fondane, Panait Istrati, Traian Vuia, Eugène Ionesco, and Emil Cioran. He spoke Romanian in his studio, welcomed visitors from Romania, and followed news from the country.