Page 41 - Studio International - April 1970

immediate contiguity to the object. The role skill on an area that most artists would regard 1 Sidney Geist, Brancusi, A Study of the Sculpture, Gross-
of the base is at once physical, in terms of as mere presentation. man Publishers, New York, and Studio Vista, London.
See also his excellent introduction to the Guggenheim
support; visual in terms of presenting the The base has yet another aspect. It carries the
Retrospective Catalogue, 1969.
object at proper level; and symbolic in terms finish of the object one stage further— carving 2 The specific and formal nature of Brancusi's obliga-
of the object's relation with the world. The is taken beyond the most perfect surface, the tion to Rodin, which is substantial in spite of the
bases are not works of art, but are as worth highest polish, to the point where the action apparent polarity of their art, is a subject deserving of
considering as many works of art in view of the of the sculptor in making, reaches and touches far more thorough and detailed investigation than I
have space to give it here.
way they perform an exact ancillary function. the action of his spectator in experiencing the
3 Sidney Geist remarks that Rodin 'constructed' (by
Most of Brancusi's sculpture is modest in size, object. Rodin, the modeller, is the sculptor as adding figures, or parts of figures, to existing models).
physically unobtrusive. Yet its presence is initiator—his sculpture has the energy of Brancusi also 'constructed' by vertically adding sculp-
enormous even from a considerable distance, beginning, the first touch; the necessity of ture to base, or bases. Yet neither Rodin nor Brancusi
and where surrounded by the work of other casting into bronze, copying into marble, are interested in the manner ofjoining of the parts, which
are related naturally by an extension of the process in
artists. The Brancusi is marked off by its means that the craftsman and executant
use: that is to say, the added figure or limb in Rodin is
carved base as being not only different from intervene and interpret this primal freshness; an added lump of clay, adhering by virtue of its pro-
other things in general, but as being different the immediacy of the final sculpture, its perty as clay; and the added elements in Brancusi are
from all other sculpture, a completely new order closeness to the spectator, is an illusion piled—they retain stability through their own weight and
of object. Brancusi evidently considered his dependent on the technical work of many inertia, not through constructive techniques: where
these are used, as in the Fish or Bird in Space series, it is
studio as the ideal environment for his work as hands. Brancusi took carving to be the reverse
to reinforce an existing gravitational situation, not to
a group. The base plays the role of the studio of this process : his is the last hand to touch the
create a new one.
as environment in relation to the individual object; he is the sculptor as finisher. The arrival, The general distinction between modes of activity in
work. Where the sculpture is polished, the the finish, denies and obliterates the often sculpture still holds good, I believe, even up to the
base is rough; where the sculpture is tight and banal setting-out, the laborious journey; and present, when 'constructive' processes are almost
universal in sculpture, and a fundamental sensibility of
ordered, the base is free and playful, where the final object is not complete until it is
one type may reveal itself through technical means that
the sculpture is concentrated the base is related through the base to the world and to might seem antithetic.
expansive. The base is only part of Brancusi's the spectator.5 4 Because The Fish is the least substantial of all Bran-
work, but it is some indication of his genius cusi's themes in terms of volume or internal event, and
that he could spend so much thought and because it has to be secured to a base to stand up at all
the presentation of this piece created special problems
for Brancusi. The small Fish of 1924 (E. J. Power
collection) is a marvellous example of the subtlety of
formal play between object and base. Seen from eye
level and about six feet away, the formed ellipse of the
fish itself is poised on the apparent (as one looks down)
ellipse of the chromed disc; the outline of the reflection
just touches the object at the axial point and is trans-
formed into a vertical oval where the ends of the arc
pass through the edge of the disc and continue into the
silhouette of the major carved form of the wooden base.
The ungainly top-heaviness of this shape on its stick-
like leg is counteracted by the negative hole through its
centre, echoing the ovoids of the leg and foot. The effect
of the whole is tense, but graceful and unified, the play
of formal complementaries overriding the harshness of
the contrast between material, handling, proportion
and function of the three parts of the ensemble.
5 I have not touched here on a further and most impor-
tant distinction between the sculpture of Brancusi and
10
The Cock 1935 Rodin. Rodin's sculpture is essentially dark; for all his
Polished bronze advertised connection with Impressionism, he is really
Height 40¾ in. working with form in shadow, with chiaroscuro: light is
Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris
used as highlight, as dramatic relief. Brancusi used
11 materials in which light penetrated the surface; by
The Turtle 1943
Plaster cast of wood contrast with Rodin his art is almost shadowless, and
Length 22¼ in. the unique presence of many of Brancusi's sculptures lies
Musée Nationale d'Art Moderne, Paris in the way in which they seem suffused in light, not
simply and mechanically, reflecting, but seeming to
12
Fish 1926 hold and radiate it.
Polished bronze
Length 16 in.
Coll: E. J. Power, London
13 and 14
Temple of Crocodile
Snapshot by Brancusi
sent to H. T. Roche, August 1924,
from St. Raphael
(Courtesy Mme. Roche, Sevres)
15
Architectural Project 1918
Wood
Height 394- in.
dispersed
16
Aristide Maillol
Night c. 1902
Stone
Height 38 in.
Kunstmuseum, Winterthur