Bird in Space

1927

Constantin Brâncuși

Associated Names
Constantin Brâncuși
Artist, Romanian, 1876 - 1957
The top section of this abstract sculpture is made up of a vertical, elongated form cast in gleaming brass that swells gently at the center and tapers to a point at either end. Near the bottom point, the form flares out slightly to make a tall, conical foot. This sits atop a short, cylindrical, white limestone base on a wood pedestal. The pedestal is carved to look like a disc at the center flanked above and below by semicircles with the flat edges facing up and down. The sculpture is photographed against a pale gray background.
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Bird in Space (English)
View Tour Stop
On View
East Building, Upper Level, Gallery E415

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    brass, limestone, and wood

  • Credit Line

    Given in loving memory of her husband, Taft Schreiber, by Rita Schreiber

  • Dimensions

    overall (total height): 287.7 cm (113 1/4 in.)
    overall (wood base height): 83.8 cm (33 in.)
    overall (brass "bird"): 185.4 x 13.6 x 15.6 cm (73 x 5 3/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
    overall (cast stone base height): 18.4 cm (7 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1989.31.3

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Purchased from the artist c. 1932 by Helena Rubinstein [1870-1965]; (her estate sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 20 April 1966, no. 13); purchased by (Stephen Hahn Gallery, New York) for Mr. and Mrs. Taft B. Schreiber, Beverly Hills; gift in 1989 of Mrs. Schreiber to the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Possibly Salon des Tuileries, Palais des Bois, Paris, 1928, no. 390.

1956

  • Exposition Internationale de Sculpture Contemporaine, Musée Rodin, Paris, 1956, no. 44.

1957

  • Paris 09-29: Fastes et décors de la via parisienne de 1909 à 1929, Musée Galliéra, Paris, 1957, no. 42.

1959

  • Foire de Paris, Section "Prestige de l'art dans l'industrie," Paris, 1959.

1994

  • Brancusi: Photographs and Sculpture, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 1994, no cat. entry (exhibition shown at 6 venues prior to Washington).

1995

  • Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995, no. 92, repro.

1997

  • The Age of Modernism: Art in the Twentieth Century, Zeitgeist-Gesellschaft, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin; Hayward Gallery, London; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1997-1998, no. 154, repro. (shown only in Berlin).

Bibliography

1968

  • Huyghe, Rene. "L'Energie moteur de l'art du vingtième Siècle." Studies in the History of Art (1967-68):44-66.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 33, repro.

2014

  • Klein, Mason. Helena Rubinstein: Beauty is Power. Exh. cat. The Jewish Museum, New York; Boca Raton Museum of Art. New York, 2014: repro. 37, 143.

Inscriptions

on underside of sculpture: C. BRANCUSI 1927

Wikidata ID

Q63860777

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