A Brancusi exhibition thanks to future renovations at the Centre Pompidou

18/5/24 - Exhibition - Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou - Secondary school students should be revising for their philosophy exams at the Centre Pompidou, where the exhibition devoted to Constantin Brancusi (ill. 1) will give them the opportunity to tackle a number of questions relating to the philosophy of art, otherwise known as aesthetics. The first of these is undoubtedly: what is a work of art? Brancusi asked this question indirectly, as he attached as much importance to his sculptures as to their pedestals, to the point of transforming certain pedestals into autonomous works of art. Conceived from the same endlessly repeated module, the Endless Column (ill. 2), which he first installed in photographer Edward Steichen’s garden at Voulangis in 1926, is derived from a wooden support.

1. Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)
The Sleeping Muse, 1910
Polished bronze - 16 x 27.3 x 18.5 cm
Paris, Centre Pompidou - Musée national d’art moderne
Succession Brancusi - Adagp, Paris 2024
Photo: Centre Pompidou, Mnam-Cci/A. Rzepka/RMN-GP

See the image in its page

Is a work of art identified as such by the viewer? In 1926 The Bird in Space (ill. 3) belonging to Steichen was blocked by American customs who suspected Brancusi of presenting this manufactured metal object as an artistic creation with the sole aim of avoiding paying import taxes. The case ended up in court, and what became known as the "trial of modern art" took place between 1927 and 1928. Brancusi emerged victorious, the judge recognising that "a school of so-called modern art has developed whose proponents attempt to represent abstract ideas rather than imitate natural objects".

2. View of the "Brancusi" exhibition at the Centre Pompidou
The Endless Column
© Adagp Paris 2024
Photo: Centre Pompidou/A. Laurans

See the image in its page

3. View of the "Brancusi" exhibition at the Centre Pompidou
Bird in Space
© Adagp Paris 2024
Photo: Centre Pompidou/A.…