BRANCUSI, CONSTANTIN

Romanian Constantin Brncusi born Feb. 21, 1876, Hobita, Rom. died March 16, 1957, Paris pioneer of modern abstract sculpture whose works in bronze and marble are characterized by a restrained, elegant geometry of form and exquisite finishing. A passionate wood-carver, he frequently carved prototypes for works later executed in other materials and produced numerous wood sculptures, often with a folk flavour. The Kiss (1908) was his first major work. From 1912 he produced numerous increasingly abstract sculptures of birds in flight. Additional reading Carola Giedion-Welcker (ed.), Constantin Brancusi (1959), constitutes a serious analysis of his work, with numerous photographs. Sidney Geist, Brancusi, newly rev. and augmented ed. (1983), is an excellent study of the sculpture. Other works of criticism and biography include Radu Varia, Brancusi (1986); and Eric Shanes, Constantin Brancusi (1989).