Brâncuși moved from Romania to Paris in 1904, and he built and occupied a studio in the Montparnasse district from 1916 through his death in 1957. It contained his huge array of tools and also his unique grouping of his sculptures – the studio became his preferred place for the presentation and comprehension of his works. He felt that his works needed to be in a particular spatial relationship to each other. So when he sold, for instance, a marble sculpture, he replaced it with a plaster cast to preserve the integrity of the whole.
He bequeathed his studio and its contents (including works, sketches, furniture, tools, library, record collection, etc.) to the French State, and the Centre Georges Pompidou has just installed a reproduction of the studio on the north end of the big square outside its entrance. It’s free (no tickets required, so no standing in the long lines to get into the museum), and it’s fascinating! I took lots of photos through the windows that enclose the studio (you can click on any photo in this blog to see a larger version). Almost as amazing as the sculptures are the tools that he acquired, adapted, and/or built to accomplish his vision on both small-scale and enormous-scale pieces.
This exhibit runs through next March 6, so check it out if you happen to be in Paris in the next few months! Open every day except Tuesday.
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| Some GIANT saws and an amazing variety of other tools! |
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