ALL OF HIS LIFE, BRANCUSl, LONELY FATHER FIGURE, POLISHED, REFINED, REPEATED, DISPLACED AND CONSTANTLY PHOTOGRAPHED SCULPTURES AND PEDESTALS WHICH HE WILL DONATE TO THE FRENCH STATE.BRANCUSI'S WORKSHOP WAS ENTIRELY RENOVATED AND REBUILT IN FRONTBEAUBOURG CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER IN PARIS.

 BRANCUSI (1876-1957)IS WITH RODIN, HIS OPPOSITE, THE MOST IMPORTANT SCULPTOR OF THE 20TH CENTURY. BORN IN ROMANIA, HE WILL MEET MODIGLIANI IN PARIS WHERE HE SETTLES IN 1904,AND WHERE HE WILL ALSO BECOME A CLOSE FRIEND OF MARCEL DUCHAMP.A FEW YEARS LATER, HE WILL MOVE INTO THE PICTURESQUE AND TIMEWORN RONSIN RESIDENCE WHERE, UNTIL THE DAY OF HIS DEATH, HE WILL CREATE OUT OF WOOD, MARBLE AND STONE, A WORK OF PURE SHAPES WHICH, OFTEN FOUND IN NATURE, BLOSSOMED INTO ABSTRACTION. THE CORE OF BRANCUSI"S WORK IS MADE OF HEADS, WOMEN OR MUSES,BIRDS AND ANIMALS, SENSUOUS EGG-SHAPED AND SLENDER ARTEFACTS. BRANCUSI WAS REVEALED BY AMERICA THANKS TO THE 1913 ARMORY SHOW. FRANCE WHICH HE FIRST SCANDALIZED, HONORED HIM LATER ON WHILE ROMANIA CELEBRATED HIS GENIOUS BY ASKING HIM TO BUILD THE HUGE TIRGU-JIU ENSEMBLE OUT OF WHICH STEMS THE LEGENDARY "ENDLESS PILLAR". ALL OF HIS LIFE, BRANCUSl, LONELY FATHER FIGURE, POLISHED, REFINED, REPEATED, DISPLACED AND CONSTANTLY PHOTOGRAPHED SCULPTURES AND PEDESTALS WHICH HE WILL DONATE TO THE FRENCH STATE.BRANCUSI"S WORKSHOP WAS ENTIRELY RENOVATED AND REBUILT IN FRONTBEAUBOURG CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER IN PARIS.

Introduction

The Studio on impasse Ronsin

1876-1907 Youth

A dual culture: eastern and popular

An "initiate" in search of adventure

Wood: the great discovery

A gravely serene liturgy

First major work: The Prayer

Sheer emotional power: The Kiss

1908-1912 Maturation

Intense experimentation

Modigliani and "Negro" art

Sleeping muse and the ovoid faces

Maiastra, the fabulous bird

Life in Montparnasse, 1910-1920

Mademoiselle Pogany

1913-1918 First successes

The first solo exhibition and the beginnings

of a reputation

The FirstStep: an ambiguous return to Africa

The first endless column

Return to the ovoid: The Newborn

The Princess X scandal

1919-1937 Soaring

Birds and a bestiary

Duchamp, friendship and love affairs

Paul Morand: Brancusi, "A sculptor of the people"

Big Cocks

Nancy Cunard, a "sophisticated young woman"

Three Birds move into Indore

1938-1957 Apotheosis

Tirgu-Jiu

A new Bird and variants on The Kiss

Peggy Guggenheim remembers

Ionesco"s The Chairs in Brancusi"s studio

A place of magic lost