Artist Spotlight: Constantin Brâncuși

          If you have ever been to the Museum of Modern Art, or the MOMA, in New York City, you might on display recall the simple  yet intriguing sculptures created by Constantin Brâncuși. One of my favorites of Brâncuși’s, “The Fish,” built in 1924, is an oval made out of steel. It takes up the abstract shape of the fish and makes me think about the nature of a fish.  Simply looking at any of Brâncuși’s sculptures would make anyone ponder for hours. Brâncuși’s artwork can be extremely difficult to digest , but this complexity makes his work exciting and influential. 

          There is a black and white photo on the wall, near each of Brâncuși’s sculptures in the MOMA. Most people focus on Brâncuși’s sculptures, but he is also a talented film photographer. When Brâncuși was introduced to film by the American visual artist Man Ray, Brâncuși began to capture his sculptures in black and white film. The more I think about it, the funnier it gets because Brâncuși uses the art he already created to make more art. He capitalized on his talent for producing art from what he saw. Although Brâncuși’s use of photography as a medium is less known, it does show who he was as an artist while showing his intention of what his art should be perceived as. These photographs are what caused Brâncușito to be known as “one of the most innovative image-makers in the history of photography,” according to the Aesthetica Art Prize.

          This innovation is prominently shown in the photographs he took. Paulina Pobocha, the curator who put together the iconic Brâncuși exhibition, entitled Constantin Brâncuși  Sculpture, in the MOMA, wanted to use Constantin Brâncuși’s film photography as an addition to the collection. In an interview with The Woven Tale Press, Pobocha explained that her intention with the exhibition was to make an engaging open gallery that allowed for the presentation of his photographs and sculptures. Pobocha described the collection as “an environment that enabled both close looking and contextualization of the sculptures with Brancusi’s work in other mediums.” 

          When trying to understand Constantin Brâncuși as an artist, it is essential to recall his film photography. Pobocha knew that Brâncuși’s photographs had the power to manipulate how his sculptures are perceived. When she made an open gallery-style exhibition to present Brâncuși’s work, she purposefully placed each sculpture and photograph close together. In each photograph, Brâncuși manipulates how his sculptures are surrounded by light; some are in radical, high-contrast lighting, while others are presented in dim and soft lighting. The different lighting can cause each person’s perception of the sculptures to vary. For example, when I saw Brâncuși’s photo of “The Fish” , I thought of how the lighting made me feel like the statue held a lot of peace. The photographs give a different interpretation of what, at first glance, seems like simple sculptures. 

          Brâncuși once said, “Simplicity is not an objective in art, but one achieves simplicity despite one’s self by entering into the real sense of things.” While his sculptures and photographs seem simple, they give a freedom of interpretation to any viewer. If you ever find yourself in the MOMA, I hope you visit Constantin Brâncuși’s exhibition and pay special attention to his photography.  The photos surely they will allow you to see each unique sculpture differently.