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Brâncuşi was very fond of Craiova because here he spent his youth.
Here, he arrived in 1889, "to make himself a situation". In order to do this he got a job, at first, at the eating house belonging to the Spirtaru brothers, in the Railway station Square (where he also slept). Later on, he worked at the pub and grocer's shop of Ioan Zamfirescu, and after that, for a short time, at Enache Manea'shop and, finally, at the colonial products and goods'shop «The coloured star« ,that belonged to Ghiţă Ionescu.(In all these years he lived at 19, Madona Dudu Street, in the outhouses of the grocery shop, then at 14, C.A.Rosetti Street, where Enache Manea had his shop and apartment(on the 1st floor), and between 1893-1894, at 23, Madona Dudu Street, on the lst floor). Making a violin, as everybody knows, with his penknife, from the planks of an orange box, Brâncuşi gained the sympathy of Costică Grecescu-Perieru, Enache Manea, Ghiţă Ionescu, Ion Georgescu-Gorjan. They helped him, morally and materially, to enter, in the autumn of 1894, as a student, at the School of Arts and Crafts from Craiova (in his school years he lived at the boarding school, which was then on General Tătărescu Street). Being much older and more gifted than his colleagues, he graduated two years in one. He was studying sculpture. At the beginning of the next school year, Brâncuşi became a stipended pupil, leaving behind certain financial problems.
Apparently, from this period of time, date a few works in wood, of which we mention: two painting frames (today these can be seen at his former school), a case (today in Craiova, belonging to the inheritors of C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopşor's Collection), a corner chair (belonging to the patrimony of the Art Museum Craiova), a tambour and a lotto game(belonging at first to Ghiţă Ionescu's (family), and also a few works considered today as being a part of his artisan period of creation.
In the same period, more precisely in the summer of 1897, he had the opportunity of working for a month in Wien, at a special order from a factory specialized in period furniture. Returning to Craiova he started modelling, after a photo, a bust of the famous politician Gheorghe Chiţu, who had recently died. In 1898, Brâncuşi graduated the School of Arts and Crafts from Craiova and in autumn he left for Bucharest to continue his studies at the National
Fine Arts School. To be able to handle new expenses he sold his part of fatherly inheritance.
At the Regional Exhibition of Oltenia's Counties, which took place in Craiova, in October 1898, Brâncuşi exhibited the Bust of Gheorghe Chiţu. On that occasion, the local press - "Voinţa Craiovei", "Albina" and "Lumina", mentioned for the first time his name. Unfortunately, the bust didn't survived to our times. Yet, we know, from the above-mentioned press, that it was appreciated. Moreover, it remains his first worth quoting work of art.
So we may conclude that Brâncuşi's name is connected with Craiova of the last decade of the 19th Century. It was here that he discovered his call, he started his artistic education, he created his first works, he participated at exhibitions, the press mentioned his name... Here he was born for the second time - as he was to declare years later.
It is also known that during his studies at the National Fine Arts School in Bucharest, Brâncuşi received from the Trustees of Madona Dudu Church from Craiova, and from the Dolj Prefecture, two scholarships. Though modest, these scholarships spared him of material problems between 1898-1902. After he finished his studies in Bucharest and he satisfied his (shortened) military stage in Craiova and, in between, he had made a series of works - among which we can mention, in Craiova, The Bust of Ioan Georgescu-Gorjan (with whom he had begun a beautiful friendship, while working in Ghiţă Ionescu`s store), and in Bucharest, The Flayed Man - Brâncuşi left, as we all know, in 1904, for Paris, to continue his studies. He left the country "with no other means but his knowledge". So it ends the first period of his life. Yet, a different chapter, a new period, is ahead of him.
Though settled in Paris, Brâncuşi came back in the next decades several times, in his homeland. On these occasions he passed almost every time trough the city that played a very important role in his life (Here we can recall that in 1922 he lived in the house of the 6, former Sofia Caneciu Street).
The fact that the artisanal works (the two painting frames, the case and the corner chair), papers, personal and other documents, four drawings and nine of his works are located in Craiova, renders to the ex-residence of the Oltenia's Ban, the privilege of being a place that needs to be included in the itinerary of those who wish to really know the life and creations of the great sculptor. Thus, eight works: The Flayed Man, Vitellius (plaster and bronze), Pride, Head of a Child, The Kiss, Torso (Fragment of a torso), Miss Pogany, are located at The Art Museum of Craiova, and another Flayed Man in the National Highschool Carol the lst`s Collection.
All these works were made in Brâncuşi's first period of creation. Thus, Brâncuşi made The Bust of the Roman Emperor Vitellius in November 1898, while he was a student in the first year at The National Fine Arts School in Bucharest.
For this work, Brâncuşi received, from the school, an Honorable Mention. We must also state that Vitellius is his oldest sculpture kept in a museum, and that, even though it was made while Brâncuşi was a student, in it can be found "throbs and sparkles of art, which foresee, even in 1898, the artist that Brâncuşi will become, after ten years" (V.G.Paleolog). The Bust of Vitellius, "d'apres L'Antique", made in plaster and located in Craiova (the museum also has a Bust of Vitellius in bronze, casted in 1964 in order to protect the original) is unique. There isn't another one in any other museum or private collection in the world. The bust was given by the Ministry of Cults and Instruction, in the first years of the 20tn Century, to the former Prefecture of Dolj County, where it remained forgotten for almost a quarter of a century. From there, it passed in 1925, to The Natural Sciences Museum of Craiova (the archaeological department), then, in 1950, to the Oltenia Museum, and in 1954, to the Art Museum Craiova. Considered "a remarkable academical study that draws the attention by its serenity" (Sydney Geist), Vitellius was exhibited in Philadelphia (1969), New York (1969), Chicago (1970), Bucharest (1970), Haga (1970), Craiova (1976), during the Brâncuşi retrospectives. It is the first work that the visitor of The Art Museum Craiova sees in the Brâncusi Cabinet. In the autumn of 2000, the bust (plaster) should have been a part of the exhibition "D'apres L'Antique", in Louvre, but the Romanian Ministry of Culture refused to approve the loan...
The Flayed Man, owned by the Art Museum Craiova, was made "after a life model" by Brâncuşi, under the guidance of Prof. dr. Dimitrie Gerota, in 1902. It is considered a didactical work and thus it isn't a part of the permanent exhibition of the museum. Still, it can be seen, when requested. It is the only one preserved in good condition (unlike the other ones located in Bucharest, Craiova, Iassy and Cluj). It belonged to the former Prefecture of Dolj County, and to the former Natural Sciences Museum, where it was sent from the Prefecture.
The Flayed Man from the National Highschool Carol the 1st, was sent there, years ago, for didactical purposes, by the former Ministry of Cults and Instruction.
The next four "Brâncusi" that can be admired in the abovementioned Cabinet, by the visitors of the Art Museum Craiova are: Pride, Head of a Child, The Kiss, and Torso (Fragment of a Torso). All the sculptures came from the collection of the numismatist Victor N.T. Popp (1885 - 1955).
The first of these sculptures, Pride, was made in Paris, in 1905, while Brâncuşi was completing his studies at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. In fact, it is the first Parisian work made by Brâncuşi, casted in bronze, through the "cire perdue" method, in A.A. Hebrard's workshop. Pride, from Craiova, was made after the plaster one, which was exhibited in 1906, in Salon d'Automne, in Paris, and was warmly appreciated by the great sculptor Auguste Rodin. The name of the sculpture has its origins in the fact that the girl represented in it refuses the kiss of a young man (V G. Paleolog, an exegete of Brâncuşi said that the young man is the sculptor himself).Pride, from the Art Museum Craiova (after it there were casted other two, in "cire perdue", one by A.A. Hebrard, and other by C. Valsuani, now belonging to the Ralph Colin's Collection, New York) was exhibited, along the years, at different exhibitions, in Craiova (1943, 1956, 1976), Bucharest (1956, 1970 and 1976), London (1966), Haga (1970), Piteşti and Galaţi (1976), New York (1990), Paris (1995), Philadelphia (1995), Helsinki (1998) and Târgu-Jiu (2000).
Head of a
Child
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Head of a Child, from Craiova, was made in 1906. It is the best known variant of this work. The work in Craiova is casted in bronze, in A.A. Hebrard workshop, through the "cire perdue" method. It is different from the two pieces casted by Valsuani (one is now in The Romanian National Museum of Art, the other is in Elisa and Radu Miclescu's properiy) because of its golden reflections.
An explanation it is more than necessary, in our opinion: the child that served as a model to Brâncuşi was blind. This sculpture was present in exhibitions in Paris (1909 and 1995), Bucharest (1928, 1970 and 1976), Craiova (1943, 1956 and 1976), Piteşti and Galaţi (1976), New York (1990), Philadelphia (1995), Helsinki (1998) and Târgu Jiu (2000).
Passing in the next room of the Brâncuşi Cabinet we meet The Kiss. Made in 1907, in Paris, it is today world famous. Carved directly in Marna limestone, The Kiss, from Craiova, is the first from a series of works bearing this title. Other two pieces carved in stone, date from 1908 and can be found in The Art Museum of Philadelphia's Collection and H. Diamond's Collection, from New York. There are other three pieces, also worked in stone, made in 1915, 1921 and 1925, belonging to the patrimony of the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris. Besides these, there is also The Kiss from the Montparnasse Cemetery, from Paris, that was made in 1910 for the grave of Tania Rachevski, who committed suicide out of love; and there are also three stone versions, made in 1912, 1925 and 1940, being a part of the Arensberg Collection (The Art Museum from Philadelphia) and four plaster casts (the 1 St in Hamburg, the 2°d in New York, the 3rd - which was in Storck's Collection from Bucharest and now it seems it is in Japan, and we don't know anything about the 4t''~. Anyway, The Kiss from Craiova is the first, and of course the most important from this cycle. It is considered today "the angular stone of Brâncuşi's career" (Barbu Brezianu), and "the fundamental stone of a great work" (Sidney Geist).
A reaction to The Kiss of the great French sculptor Auguste Rodin, Brâncuşi's sculpture is, in fact, the first one in the world, ever made in the modern style. Through it, we can assert that the artist revolutionized the art of sculpture. Here, he gave up, for the first time, the details, the forms that express little, keeping only the essential anatomical elements. The artist walked thus on a new road, one of his own. For this reason the work is today quoted in all the books of art history, in all encyclopaedias of the world. It is also "the most expensive kiss in the world".
Sculpted in the form of the letter "M" - the initial of the Romanian word for death (Moarte), as it seems that Brâncuşi had declared once - The Kiss is in fact, an embrace of two young people that even death can't separate. Having, maybe, some autobiographical implications, the work was explained in different ways; one of the explanations was offered by the sculptor himself: "I wanted, in fact, to make something that will remind us not only a pair of people in love, but all the pairs that lived and loved, here, on Earth, before leaving this world". Here, "Brâncuşi succeeded, for the first time, to express the essential" (Barbu Brezianu), to discover "the road to Damascus" (Brâncuşi).
Victor N. Popp bought the version of The Kiss that belongs now to The Art Museum Craiova, probably, before 1914, directly from the sculptor. From Victor N. Popp's Collection, the sculpture entered in the patrimony of The Art Museum Craiova at the beginning of the year 1945.
Over the years, The Kiss participated at different exhibitions, in different parts of the world. Thus, for the first time, The Kiss was exhibited, in 1910, at Bucharest, at "Tinerimea artistică", and then, again, in the same pla~ce, in 1914; it participated along the years at exhibitions organized in Craiova (1943, 1956 and 1976), Bucharest (1956,1970,1974 and 1976), Milano (1957), Paris (1961, 1995 and 1997), Wien (1963), London (1966 and 1976), Philadelphia (1969 and 1995), New York (1969 and 1990), Chicago and Haga (1970), Piteşti and Galaţi (1976), Duisburg (1981), Atlanta (1996) and Amsterdam (1998).
Fragment of a Torso
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Torso (known under the name Fragment of a Torso) was made in 1909, in white marble. Brâncuşi gave it, in 1910, to Victor N. Popp, with the occasion of the latter's marriage. Worked only on the front part, where it is perfectly polished, this piece of marble has "the golden yellow of the grapes, that burst out in sunlight" (Barbu Brezianu, after A. Jeanjaquet). Considered as "one of the most precious miracles" (O.W. Cisek), it is the last work done by Brâncuşi in traditional, realistic, figurative style. In the same year, 1909, the sculptor made two more works in plaster. One of them was given away in 1936, and the other remained in his workshop till today. A variant of the Torso, in marble, of bigger dimensions, made in 1912, is now in the Art Museum of Stuttgart, other, worked in onyx, in 1918, and other two, made in 1922 and 1925 (Barbu Brezianu, after Sidney Geist), don't equal in beauty the variant from Craiova. Exhibited for the first time, at the Salonul Oficial, Bucharest, in 1912, the Torso, now in Craiova, it brought a valuable first prize to Brâncuşi. Afterwards, the work was exhibited in Bucharest (1928, 1956, 1970 and 1976), Craiova (1956 and 1976), Piteşti and Galaţi (1976), Târgu Jiu (2000), and abroad, in London (1966), Paris (1995), Philadelphia (1995) and Helsinki (1998).
The last work by Brâncuşi, that can be admired by the visitor of the Art Museum Craiova, is Miss Pogany. This work belonged to the collection of dr. Octav Moşescu, from Râmnicu Sărat and was bought by the museum from the owner's daughter, Mrs. Balcica Măciucă, on 31 S` December 1976. It was casted in bronze in 1950, after the sculpture from Storck Collection, in Bucharest (the work was in the custody of the Romanian National Museum of Art until the year 2000, when it was returned to the descendants of the Storck family), with the approval of the owner, and, so they say, of the sculptor. "Considered one of the most famous and daring portraits of the 20t" century" (Barbu Brezianu), "kindred spirit of the beautiful Nefertiti" (Jean Arp), Miss Pogany was, as we all know very well, a theme that obsessed the great sculptor for more than two decades. "Its strange eyes.. . remind us (in a way), of the Holy Virgins painted on old Byzantine icons... Having a unique personality... it emits indeed a hallucinating spell" (Barbu Brezianu) over the people that watch her. The work has abroad many variants and replicas, in bronze and marble of different colours, and is for this reason a world famous sculpture. Miss Pogany from Craiova was exhibited in Paris (1961, 1992), Wien (1963), Craiova, Piteşti and Galaţi (1976), Moscow (1978), at the Biennial exhibition from Venice (1978), Madrid (1979), Sevilla (1994), Brugges (1994), Helsinki (1998) and Târgu-Jiu (2000).
We have to point that at the beginning of the year 2000, in Doru Stănescu's Collection from Craiova, entered four drawings, little known, made by Brâncuşi when in Târgu Jiu, in 1937/1938. The drawings are in fact, four violet wash-tints, representing: Head of a woman, signed down right C.Brâncuşi, a Feminine nude, a page with Four studies of birds and a drawing - etude, representing the sculpture The Fish, all of them made on epoque, very fragile, copy-book paper, dimensions 23.5 x 16.Scm; the first two drawings are on the same sheet of paper taken from the middle of the copy-book, and the other pages are taken separately from it.
Carefully examined, the four drawings are, in my opinion, without doubt, made by Brâncuşi in 1937 and 1938, when he came back in Romania, at Târgu Jiu, three times in a row. The modulation of the drawing's line, the style, the manner in which are thought and executed the drawings, the graphic representation of the images, the material on which they were executed, everything leads to the conclusion that Brâncuşi made them. What's more, you can affirm that they were made in a moment of relaxation, in the same day, who knows on what occasion.
All these four drawings, plus a fifth - representing a Nude, signed C. Brâncuşi - were exhibited, for the first time, in June 1994, at The County Museum Târgu Jiu, at the Exhibition "Constantin Brâncuşi and his contemporaries". After that, the drawings were put in sale at an antiquary (for art objects) in Bucharest. One of them, the signed Nude, disappeared, being seen later on in Switzerland.
The drawings first belonged to the schoolteacher Vasile Cătuţ, from Târgu Jiu, who was a close acquaintance, friend with Brâncuşi. From him the drawings arrived in Remus Claudiu Botar's Collection, from Bucharest, and, finally, four of them were bought by Doru Stănescu, from Craiova.
