Basic HTML Version
17
February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957
Constantin Brâncuși
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.
Brâncuși grew up in the village of Hobiţa,
Gorj, near Târgu Jiu, close to Romania's
Carpathian Mountains.
At the age of nine, Brâncuși left the village
to work in the nearest large town.
At 11 he went into the service of a grocer in
Slatina; and then he became a domestic in a
public house in Craiova where he remained
for several years.
When he was 18, Brâncuși created a violin
by hand with materials he found around his
workplace. Impressed by Brâncuși's talent
for carving, an industrialist entered him in
the Craiova School of Arts and Crafts,
where he pursued his love for woodworking,
graduating with honors in 1898.
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.
His works became popular in France,
Romania and the United States.
Collectors, notably John Quinn, bought his
pieces, and reviewers praised his works.
In 1913 Brâncuși's work was displayed at
both Le Salon des Indépendants and the first
exhibition in the U.S. of modern art, the
Armory Show.
Brâncuși died on March 16, 1957, aged 81.
He was buried in the Cemetery of
Montparnasse in Paris.
This cemetery also displays statues that
Brâncuși carved for deceased artists.
Some of his works:
Poarta de la Târgu Jiu
,
1937 (The Gate),
Masa Tăcerii
, 1938 (The
Silent Table),
Coloana fără sfârșit
, 1937
(The endless column)
Molocea Florina, XII C