Doino Lemny

BRAN(USIon Artist rrvithout Frontiers

rJ

v

lt

lt1l

LI

4J

rr

A{

1att

0)

tttt

ttl

tq7I t. I

t(1

thJ

t0)

CONTTNTS

Broncusi Unlimited

Crossing Europe. Ihe Sluff thol Mokes Legends

Bock to fte Primitive Arls. Source of Modernity

Bloc to Body. The Di$inctiveness of Sculpture

From ffis lo Prayer. Confronling Conventions

Portroits wilhoul Models

Ihe Armory Show: Wide Doors to Americo. Beginning of on lnternotionolAdventure

Song to Flight. Mogic ol lls Mo$ Creotive

0n the Difficulty of Crosing the Borders of Americon Art

0n lhe Ambiguily of lhe Sexes

From Europe lo Africo. Wood, on [ssentiol Moteriol

Voulongis-Iorgu Jiu-Chicogo & Ihe indless Column

lndore. Dreoming of the 0rienl

Sludio Notes ond Drowings. lndulging in Writing

0n lhe Art of Corving 0ne's Own lmoge. Ihe Photogrophic Self-Portroii

ln lhe Limelighl The Sculpfor's Studio

Biogrophicol Sketch

Selected Bibliogrophy

lndex

Crossing Europe.

Ihe Stuff thot Mokes Legends

"Desfiny shollers oll barriers.'

Broncusii life is o choin of odveniures thot he recolled nostolgicolly in his oielier notes ond outoblogrophic

essoys. Eoger to build himself on imoge for eternily, in his older yeors he storted using phroses from folk toles to

describe his coreer. Born on Bistrito Volley, he hoiled from peosonl stock, living in o poor villoge ot the foot of

the Corpothions. As o lod he herd sheep, ond he would room voles ond doles ond shody forests, thot invited

ohe to doydreoming. Life wos hord in thot opporent foiry-iole reolm, ond children hod to bring iheir shore to

their upkeep. For o while, young Constontin worked for o cooper, then o potter, ond eventuolly o blocksmith.

ln between he kept on running owoy from home but his lolks would olwoys bring hlm bock. At I I , he sow

o dreom come kue: he discovered Torguliu, the town closest to his homlet. There he found o iob with o dyer

but did not reolly like it. Croiovo, the copitol of his noiive county, o bigger ond more otlroctive city, lured the

young mon who wos on o quest. The some yeor, he obondoned thot beoutiful godforsoken corner of Romonio

ond iiorted o lourney on foot. Three doys ond three nights he koveled os oi thot lime ihere were few iroins,

ond he did not hove ony money for other meons of konsportolion. During the doy he would wolk, ond ot night

he cllmbed into o tree, for feor not to foll prey to the wolves. After three doys he reoched o cily bigger thon

the first ond ihere he found on employer...

Determined to succeed, he tempororily worked in coffee houses where he rigorously fulfilled the chores he wos

given. ln his little spore time he resumed the hobby of his shepherd's doys: corving smoll obiects with o knife

out of the pieces of wood thot he found on his wonderings. The violin he skillfully mode from some pine tree

wood coming from o sioroge box opened the door to o reol opprenticeship. Advised by the regulors of the

cof6 where he worked, ond with the help of his boss he enrolled ot the School of Arts ond Crofts in Croiovo.

The city gronted him o fouryeor scholorship.

Still dreoming of foreign londs, ihe eighteenyeor old set soil on the Donube, in ihe summer of lB9Z, when

school wos over. He stopped in Vienno, the imperiol copitol thot inflomed the imoginotion of oll the youths

hoiling from the further ends of the Austro-Hungorion Empire. During his sioy there he found employment wiih

o furnilure shop ol lhe Thonet Compony, ond eventuolly obioined o certificote of troining. Upon his return to

Croiovo, with the encourogemeni of the heodmoster ohd of some sponsors, he decided to go to Buchoresl

ond pursue his studies ot the School of Fine Arts.

Yet onoiher lucky streok prompled young Cosloche (the diminutive of Constoniin) lo put oll his tolent

ond knowledge oi work. Thus, ofter severol scholorships gronted by the cily of Croiovo, with the monqf

obtoined from vorious odd 1obs, he took up studies in Buchorest diligently oitending courses. Most of the

:ruCeri.s oi tlr= Iichr:.-,/ o{ [,lct::L.tx Arls. i3r.rr:hottrsl

I'r',r':,.rsr. r:errter. r,r'ili: rct ), l8')') i901.

Sketch ktr loocoon, I E9B.

By Broncusi c,flet on cnr:nymous phologroph

crofessors crl lh-- Acr,rcJemy had a rigorous lroinirrcl in Germon orl schools. The young sculptor begcrn with

sev.-:roi ligLrre siL,dies, tlles d'r:xpression, crnC "sculptures ofter the ontique". When speoking obout his

sr:l.rocis yecrr.s in Lluclroresi, Broncu.si often mentioned "cr busl ofter the ontique" (Vttelhus), o loocoon, ond

especiolly the strikinq Floyterl Stud'y (Fc:oclr6l, mccJe ofier on c;ncienl sloiue now in the Copitoline Museums

{initiolly.orrsidered to represenl z\rriinous, Ernperor llodrlnn's fovorite, then the god Hermes) thot the public

ccr:lcl ,.rclrnrie v,,ilhin o gtrr:irp exhiLrition ot the Rc.nronion Alhenoeum, in 1903, only o few months ofier the

Constr.,rrrtiir's rlrr;r-lur;lion. "lhen he ofrtcrined cr dlplomo from the School of Fine Arts in Buchorest, to which

[e gifted o r--nowired Lcorc,l,e thol wos use,.i os o model" Broncusi wrote in on outobiogrophic esscry.

/-\fier- serving p 1L,o gr;11y, he returned to Eluchorest, ond his former professors gronted him occess to work in

,..: schr-,,:l sluclk:. l'..lonetheless, he u,q5 lqstless. Hls heod in the clouds, he opplied for o scholorship in Rome,

c s.y,mbcrlic c:i! for Rr-,nrr:rrir:ns, wifh the noskrlgio of their Romon once.siry. Rome ond its formidoble orroy ol

crrr:ient sl:tues h<rr.j ,:iwrrys L^-,een o rnoqnet for crrtists. Elul the young sculptor seemed not so enomored of

onliquliy lle dicl nc,f c,h11i11 ony stipend nor did he hcrve money of hls own, yet he decided to emh,crrk on on

r.;dverrture, everl if he cjid riot lrtrve o clefinile gool, even if he hod to go ofoot, storting ihus o legend thot he

,r,:upJ keep fueli,rci oll his li{e. As o molter of fcr,t, in his siudir:, omong vorious popers, there wilJ olwoys be o

p-flei6grr:plr ,-.f himsr-.!f cire-.seci os o troveler, o solchel on his bock ond o stoff in one hond, o perfect memento

cf ,,vhr:1 he worrte<l lo convey oboui hirnself .

rcrls se,^mred o little too fr:r to wolk kr, so he boorded o shlp ond soiled on ihe Donube down to Vienno,

:re hc lrcrci dore o few ye,-rrs br:fore. Attrc:cted by the beoutiful scenery ond by orchiiecturol splendors,

-: conlinue.J his irovi:|, visiting severol Bcrvorion cities. He lingered for o while in Munich, then heoded

-: Zurich,.rnd Bosel, wl.tere h-^ workeci for o few months os "r: stone corver" on vorious construction sites.

.-- '^-c,uld cJe.scrib-- his experienr:e o.s hord bul chorocterbuilding: "After seven yeors of Herculeon lobors,

-^<ing oli over"flre cl|y r,vithout findino his ploce, he deported to o bigger ploce where he ocquired

:: eriific ond ortistir: klL-,uvicclge, i;hi1e toiling incessontly: ond when he hod lecrrned oll he could in thot

: -. i:r: proceerJr:r] lurlher. ile cross-od llre mc-runlcrins, ond one doy, ot dusk, he reoched the bonks of o

-:,.e iri lhe fr-,ot of the Blcc[ Forest,,vher-o the Donube rises."

10

Brancust as a fraveler, 1904.

B Bo ..s

ofler crn ononymous photogrcrph

Deorlh of money plus vorious il nesses {he controcted o double

pneumonia and o so typhold) did not deter him His sloying

power whipped up his ordent crovlng for success. He wos

wi ing lo moke whotever socrifice it iook to get to lhe French

ccpito, where he eventuolly orrlved on July 14, 1904,

erhousted yet hoppy. Fel ow Romonlons o reody settled ln the

clty of light gove hlm o heorly wecome Young Conslontin

storled scourng the ploce, eoger lo discover ils every nook

ond corner Fle mel people who foscrnoted him by their rich

culure, ond ortists from o I over the word, golhered in o merry

cosmopo iton ci1'y. "When you wolk into Pcrris, you woLk stroighl

lnlo o fierce bottle, ond, no motter the field, you hove lo ocquire

motching slomino. Everybody here is o fighter, from kids to lhe

ossoriment of peop e, oll engoged in o contestl"

i{:=

busiest of people Oh, how wonderful to see this motley

Convinced thot Poris perfecily mei his ospirotions, young Constonlin setled lhere for good. This did not meon he put on end

to his trovels Curiosi\ prompted him lo visil olher Europeon cilies, somellmes ovoillng himself of the opportunil'y provided by

on exhibition Like for exomple, inlune 1913, when he otlended the Solon of the Assoclotion of ol ied orlists, in London. Cr

in Morch 1926, when he went to Anvers, Ior the opening of the Exhibition of Modern French Art.

Americon co ectors ond gollery owners were noi ote in ocknowledging Broncusl, who took two long trips to New York,

one in I 926 and crnolher in 1939. The orchitecture, lhe civillzolion he discovered there fired up his imoginoiion. Amerlco

beckoned to him. ln his studio notes, he described the differences belween the Cld ond lhe New World. "Europe begon in

luxury, Americo in need: thot is why ii will experience progress foster." Despile the foscinotion exercised by this lond of foiry-

toles, where fhe foremosl is the money foiry, he relurned lo Poris where he felt ot home. He woud never octuo y crbondon

his otelier in lmposse Ronsin, right ot the heort of ortistic Montporncrsse, nol even during the wor "The Germons eft him

olone during lhe occupotion", one of the numerous visitors of the workshop wrole n on undoted notebook, kept by lhe orlisl.

ln 1937 , he emborked on o lourney to lndio to seek on odequoie locotion for the Temple of Deliveronce {Temple of Love)

commissioned by the mohorcrio of ndore. Avcriling himself of the princei invitolion, Broncusi visited the region He returned

to Frcrnce ofter lwo weeks, ond o N,vo-doy stop in Egypt To those who expressed surprise ot the brevily of his Egypllon trip,

Broncusi retorted thot those two doys of visiting lhe pyromids hod provided fodder for ifelong medilotion.