Brancusi carved this work, including the cylindrical base, from a single piece of wild cherry wood. Its simplified form suggests the serrated outline of the comb that crowns a rooster’s head. While Brancusi would go on to create other, larger versions of The Cock and had ambitions to erect one at a monumental scale, he made only two versions in wood, and this is the only one that survives. The Cock held particular significance for Brancusi, who purportedly said time and again, “Le Coq c’est moi” (The Cock is me).
Constantin Brancusi Sculpture, July 22, 2018–June 15, 2019
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1959 The Museum of Modern Art, New York (purchased from the heirs of the artist)
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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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Sculpture
A three-dimensional work of art made by a variety of means, including carving wood, chiseling stone, casting or welding metal, molding clay or wax, or assembling materials.
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