Brancusi

Constantin Brâncuși, usually referred to simply as Brâncuși, was a Romanian-born sculptor who became a central figure in the development of modern sculpture. He lived and worked in Paris for much of his life and is celebrated for reducing form to its essential aspects, advancing abstraction in Western art.

Born in 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County, Brâncuși trained at the School of Arts in Craiova and later in Bucharest before moving to Paris in 1904. He initially studied with Auguste Rodin, but soon developed an independent, reductive language that moved away from naturalistic representation. His early works, including The Kiss (1907–08), embraced simplified volumes and a smooth, polished finish.

Brâncuși pursued a philosophy of stripping sculpture to its core, favoring clean lines, geometric forms, and seamless surfaces. He often used vertical towers, cylinders, and ovals and worked with materials such as stone and hornbeam; later he favored steel and marble with a high polish. His aim was to reveal the essence of a subject rather than its outward likeness.

Among his best-known works are Bird in Space (a series begun in the 1920s), which sought to capture movement in a slender, abstract form; The Endless Column (Coloana fără sfârșit) (1937–38), part of the public monument in Târgu Jiu in Romania; and The Kiss (1907–08), an early example of his cumulative reduction. His influence extended to mid-20th-century sculpture and contemporary minimalism.

Brâncuși died in Paris in 1957. His legacy endures in major museums worldwide, and his writings and studio practice helped shape modernist sculpture. A 1927 U.S. customs case, Brâncuși v. United States, concerning Bird in Space, is frequently cited as a milestone in the legal definition of art in international trade.