predominance of mechanization in society by immersing themselves
in a search for the organic and natural.
CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI Romanian artist Constantin
Brancusi(1876–1957) was one of many sculptors eager to produce
works emphasizing the natural or organic. Often composed of softly
curving surfaces and ovoid forms, his sculptures refer, directly or in-
directly, to the cycle of life. Brancusi sought to move beyond surface
appearances to capture the essence or spirit of the object depicted (see
“Brancusi, Hepworth, and Moore on Abstract Sculpture,” above).
Brancusi’s ability to design rhythmic, elegant sculptures conveying
the essence of his subjects is evident in Bird in Space (FIG. 35-57).
Clearly not a literal depiction of a bird, the work is the final result of
a long process. Brancusi started with the image of a bird at rest with
its wings folded at its sides and ended with an abstract columnar
form sharply tapered at each end. Despite the abstraction, the sculp-
ture retains the suggestion of a bird about to soar in free flightthrough the heavens. The highly reflective surface of the polished
bronze does not allow the eye to linger on the sculpture itself (as do,
for example, Rodin’s agitated and textured surfaces;FIGS. 31-32and
31-33). Instead, the viewer’s eye follows the gleaming reflection
along the delicate curves to glide right off the tip of the work,
thereby inducing a feeling of flight. Brancusi stated, “All my life I
have sought the essence of flight. Don’t look for mysteries. I give you
pure joy. Look at the sculptures until you see them. Those nearest to
God have seen them.”^47
BARBARA HEPWORTH British artist Barbara Hepworth
(1903–1975) developed her own kind of essential sculptural form,
combining pristine shape with a sense of organic vitality. She sought a
sculptural idiom that would express her sense both of nature and the
landscape and of the person who is in and observes nature (see “Bran-
cusi, Hepworth, and Moore,” above). By 1929, Hepworth arrived at
a breakthrough that evolved into an enduring and commandingEurope, 1920 to 1945 951M
any early-20th-century sculptors rejected the notion that
reproducing the physical world of nature was the purpose
of sculpture. Instead, they championed abstraction as the sculptor’s
proper goal. Among those who not only produced enduring master-
pieces of abstract sculpture but also wrote eloquently about the the-
oretical basis of their work were Constantin Brancusi (FIG. 35-57),
Barbara Hepworth (FIG. 35-58), and Henry Moore (FIG. 35-59).
Some excerpts from their writings on sculpture illustrate their com-
mitment to abstraction as their guiding principle.
❚Constantin BrancusiSimplicity is not an objective in art, but one
achieves simplicity despite oneself by entering into the real sense
of things.* What is real is not the external form but the essence of
things. Starting from this truth it is impossible for anyone to ex-
press anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface.†
❚Barbara HepworthThe forms which have had special meaning
for me since childhood have been the standing form (which is the
translation of my feeling towards the human being standing in
landscape); the two forms (which is the tender relationship of one
living thing beside another); and the closed form, such as the oval,
spherical, or pierced form (sometimes incorporating colour)
which translates for me the association and meaning of gesture in
the landscape....In all these shapes the translation of what one
feels about man and nature must be conveyed by the sculptor in
terms of mass, inner tension, and rhythm, scale in relation to our
human size, and the quality of surface which speaks through our
hands and eyes.‡
❚Henry Moore Since the Gothic, European sculpture had become
overgrown with moss, weeds—all sorts of surface excrescences
which completely concealed shape. It has been Brancusi’s special
mission to get rid of this overgrowth, and to make us once more
shape-conscious. To do this he has had to concentrate on very sim-
ple direct shapes....Abstract qualities of design are essential to
the value of a work....Because a work does not aim at reproduc-
ing natural appearances, it is not, therefore, an escape from life—
but may be a penetration into reality....My sculpture is becomingless representational, less an out-
ward visual copy ...but only be-
cause I believe that in this way I
can present the human psycho-
logical content of my work with
greatest directness and intensity.§* Quoted in Herschel B. Chipp,Theo-
ries of Modern Art: A Source Book by
Artists and Critics(Berkeley and Los
Angeles: University of California Press,
1968), 364 –365.
†Quoted in George Heard Hamilton,
Painting and Sculpture in Europe,
1880–1940,6th ed. (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1993), 426.
‡Barbara Hepworth,A Pictorial Auto-
biography(London: Tate Gallery, 1978),
9, 53.
§Quoted in Robert L. Herbert,Modern
Artists on Art,2d ed.
(Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 2000), 173–179.Brancusi, Hepworth, and Moore
on Abstract SculptureARTISTS ON ART35-57Constantin Brancusi,
Bird in Space,1924. Bronze,
4 216 ––^5 high. Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Philadelphia
(Louise and Walter Arensberg
Collection, 1950).
Although not a literal depiction of
a bird, Brancusi’s softly curving,
light-reflecting abstract sculpture
in polished bronze suggests a bird
about to soar in free flight through
the heavens.1 ft.35-57A
BRANCUSI,
The Newborn,
1915.