CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUŞI IN PARIS Paris’s Pompidou Centre is current- ly hosting the biggest ever exhibition of sculptures by Constantin Brâncuși (1876, Hobita, Romania - 1957, Paris, France), which includes almost 200 works. Apart from the sheer volume of works, this ex- hibition is unique in that it will present many of the sculptures in the precise way that the artist arranged them in his studio, exploring the spatial relationships of form as an artistic tool and work. Brâncuși is known as the patriarch of modernism in sculpture, and his elegant, radically geometrised forms in metal, wood and stone, often in oval and ellip- soidal shapes, represent – in the words of the artist himself – insight into the na- ture of the object or concept – into the essence. He carved his forms direct- ly from the material, forsaking the com- mon practice of first making models. Testifying to just how avant-garde he was is the true story of how one ver- sion of his anthology sculpture Bird in Space led to a legal precedent being set in the U.S. Shipped to New York for a 1927 exhibition, the “Bird” ended up in court, in a dispute filed by Brâncuși that was to determine whether it was an art- work or a taxable utensil. Customs offi- cials had deemed the object a utilitari- an “kitchen utensil”, while on Brâncuși’s side was a team of serious artists, cura- tors and critics, witnesses and experts who proved that an item isn’t deemed a work of art due to its visual similar- ity with an eponymous being or ob- ject from nature, nor with the title of the work. The verdict? It’s art!
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Mnoge skulpture biće postavljene tačno onako kako ih je umetnik raspoređivao u svom ateljeu Many of the sculptures will be presented in the precise way that the artist arranged them in his studio
Art » Umetnost | 47
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