Oak 43 3/4 x 11 3/8 x 14 1/2" (111 x 28.8 x 36.8 cm), on oak footing 7 1/2 x 9 3/4 x 10 5/8" (18.8 x 24.6 x 27 cm), overall 51 1/4" (130 cm) high. Limestone cylinder, 11 7/8" (30.2 cm) high
Carved directly into oak, the large head, with cut-out eyes and mouth agape, is balanced atop the neck and shoulders, which are slender but nonetheless able to support the mass above. Brancusi said of Socrates, “Nothing escapes the great thinker. He knows all, he sees all, he hears all. His eyes are in his ears, his ears are in his eyes.” This work not only reveals Brancusi’s admiration for the Greek philosopher but also alludes to his friendship with composer Erik Satie, whose opera Socrate had been performed in Paris in 1920. In fact, Brancusi addressed Satie, ten years his senior, as Socrates, and Satie called him Plato. Socrates was the first wooden sculpture by Brancusi acquired by MoMA; Alfred H. Barr, Jr., the Museum’s founding director, doggedly pursued it for years before it entered the collection.
Constantin Brancusi Sculpture, July 22, 2018–June 15, 2019
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Constantin Brancusi
French, born Romania. 1876–1957 36 works onlineConstantin Brancusi sought to expand the bounds of sculptural language. At the core of this pursuit was an abiding interest in materiality, which he probed tirelessly across wood, bronze, and stone.
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Brancusi and Abstraction
Gallery 508In the first decades of the twentieth century, artists throughout Europe developed a radical style of art that reimagined the painting in terms of line, plane, and color.
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