Birth
February 21, 1876, HobiČa, Romania
Death
March 16, 1957, Paris, France
Country of Origin/Citizenship
Romanian/later French citizenship
Kind of Artist/Cultural Worker
Sculptor and photographer
Avant-Garde Movements Associated With
Fauvism, Abstract Expressionism, Modernism, Cubism
Date & Places of Overlap with Loy
Loy in Paris 1902 - 1907, 1923 ā 1936
Brancusi in Paris 1904 ā 1957
Loy is pictured in Brancusiās studio in 1921 or 1923,8 Impasse Ronsin, Paris, France
Constantin Brancusi was born on February 19, 1876 in the rural village of HobiČa, Romania. During childhood, he developed a love of and appreciation for nature and animals, especially birds, that he later represented in his sculptures (Miller, āConstantin Brancusiā 17). At age seven, having no formal education, he lost his father and subsequently had to work the familyās land. When he was twelve, he moved to Craiova to find work and began attending the Industrial School for Mechanical Arts, Craiovaās School of Arts and Crafts. After completing his education in 1898, he studied sculpting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania.
Upon graduating in 1902, Brancusi moved to Paris, where he took classes at LāEcole des Beaux-Arts and became the pupil of sculptor Auguste Rodin. While living in the artistic community of Montmartre, he carved The Kiss out of stone in 1907. In 1910, Brancusi began to create his series of bird sculptures which included the Magic Bird, the Golden Bird, and Bird in Space. He frequently used bronze, brass, and marble to create his sculptures but produced his first work, The First Step, in wood in 1913.Ā Brancusi was influenced by Egyptian and African Art. In 1916, he moved to a studio and home at 8 Impasse Ronsin, Paris, where he created and stored his work and entertained guests.
Brancusi discovered a passion for photography and often photographed his studio and sculptures. Mina Loyās poem, āBrancusiās Golden Bird,ā was inspired by Brancusiās photograph of his bronze sculpture, Golden Bird, which he completed in 1919. In this poem, Loy expressed immense appreciation for Brancusiās work, referring to him as a āpatient peasant Godā and his sculpture as an āimmaculate conceptionā (Loy). Loyās poem was published in November 1922 in The Dial, on a page facing Brancusiās photograph of his sculpture. She first encountered Brancusiās photo of the Golden Bird in the autumn 1921 issue of The Little Review, which featured photographs of Brancusiās sculpture and of his Parisian studio (Masteller). Loy may have also seen a version of the Golden Bird in summer 1921, at Mariette and Heyworth Millsā home on Rue Boissonnade (Conover).
Although Brancusi resided in Paris while Loy lived there from 1904-07, their friendship began the second time Loy moved to Paris in 1923. Both were part of the same avant-garde circles, and Loy admired Brancusiās artwork. A 1923 photograph shows Brancusi, Loy, Jane Heap, Margaret Anderson, and Tristan Tzara gathered in Brancusiās studio at 8 Impasse Ronsin to ācelebrate their reunion as the Paris branch of The Little Reviewā (Burke 333). Often taking Loy out to the movies, Brancusi also assisted her with her lamp shop in Paris by recommending two Romanian girls to work there (344). Their friendship extended to Loyās daughter, Joella, as Brancusi was invited to Joellaās wedding and gifted her a brass sculpture he created (Burke 346). Brancusi remained in Paris until his death on March 16, 1957 and is buried in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.
Related
Works Cited
Andreotti, Margherita. āBrancusi’s āGolden Birdā: A New Species of Modern Sculpture.ā Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 19, no. 2, 1993, pp. 134ā203.
Burke, Carolyn. Becoming Modern: the Life of Mina Loy. Kindle Edition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1996.
Lazevnick, Ashley. āImpossible Descriptions in Mina Loy and Constantin Brancusi’s GoldenĀ Bird.ā Word and Image, vol. 29, no. 2, 2013, pp.192202.,Ā doi:10.1080/02666286.2013.787809.
Loy, Mina, and Roger L. Conover. The Lost Lunar Baedeker: Poems of Mina Loy. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1999.
Masteller, Richard N. āUsing Brancusi: Three Writers, Three Magazines, Three Versions of Modernism.ā American Art, vol. 11, no. 1, 1997, pp. 46ā67.,Ā https://www.jstor.org/stable/3109260.
Miller, Sanda. “Brancusi, Constantin.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Ā Press. Web. 18 Sep. 2017. <https://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T010887>.
Miller, Sanda. Constantin Brancusi. ebook, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2010, ebookcentral.proquest.com.proxy-remote.galib.uga.edu/lib/ugalib/reader.action?docID=618766.
Mostow, Joshua S., “Brancusi and His Poets,” Studies in 20th Century Literature: vol. 9: no. 2,Ā article 2, 1 Jan. 1985, pp. 181ā205., https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1160.
āThe Artists and Their Alley, in Postwar France.ā The New York Times Magazine, The New York Time Company, 8 Impasse Ronsin, Paris France, 22 Sept. 2016,Ā www.nytimes.com/2016/09/22/t-magazine/art/impasse-ronsin-artists-montparnasse- constantin-brancusi.html?mcubz=3.
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