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Brancusi on Men and Women: Take the Tate Test?
In further pursuit of the essence of Brancusi's modernist sculpture, DIonysia invites you to take the Tate's test of your responses to two of his sculptures of men and women. Or whatever....
 Constantin Brancusi. Adam and Eve.1921 Chestnut and Oak. Photo from Art Times Jan/Feb 2004 In 2004 The Tate Modern, in London, and The Guggenheim Museum, in New York, put together an exhibition of Brancusi's sculptures. For its show, the Tate put out a "Teacher and Group Leader's Kit" which included "Thematic Sheet D: Men and Women." Here's what they said about the sculpture shown in Room 7, Brancusi's "Adam and Eve" of 1921, and two of the questions they asked about it: "Adam and Eve named after the first man and woman created by God is actually made of two sculptures Adam, carved from chestnut, is on the bottom, and Eve, which is oak, is on top. Are there any bits of the sculpture which appear to show parts of the body? How does Brancusi differentiate between Adam and Eve?" These questions turn out to be more challenging than you might think. Also relevant to the "Adam and Eve," I think, are the Tate's questions on the Torsos in Room 5: " ...What do you think Brancusi is trying to say about the differences between men and women? Would you say that Brancusi preferred to carve male or female forms?" Though the Tate does not ask any of these questions about the sculpture below, whose marble version was also in their show, I think you will agree that they apply to it as well. If you would jot down and share your responses to either or both of these two works, either in a post here, or in a private message to me, I would love to read them. I will soon post an article about these two works, including my own reactions, and I might like to quote some of yours, if you agree. If you do, you might indicate if you, or rather your persona, would like to remain anonymous.  Princess X, bronze, 1916 3/4 view.  Princess X, 1916 This bronze version seems to be the one exhibited at New Yorks. Society of Independent Artists in 1917, and in Paris at the Salon des Independents in 1920. Photo from: socrates.berkeley.edu:7138/albums/album24  Contantin Brancusi, Princess X, 1915. Marble, 22 x 11 x 9 inches; limestone base, 6 3/8 x 6 3/8 x 5 1/2 inches. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Gift of Mrs. Olga N. Sheldon in memory of Adams Bromley Sheldon. © 2004 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris.  Princess X marble 1915? Photo from Jack Spector, "Duchamp's Gendered Plumbing."< tout-fait, The Marcel Duchamp Studies Online Journal 2005 |
Library
~ Table of Contents ~
TYCHE & OEDIPUS
Fatal Boar Hunts, Fatal Loves: Meleager & Adonis A Valentine for Camille Flammarion The Met returns its Euphronios vase! Camille Flammarion: Romantic Astronomer The Fountains of Enceladus The Eye of God Is Ganymede the Boy from Marathon Bay? THE ANCIENT OLYMPIEIA FESTIVAL AT ATHENS Which satyr would you choose... The Marathon Boy and the Satyr Contrapossto from Praxiteles to Rubens and Playboy The Afternoon of a Faun The Dancing Satyr - A Lost Bronze of Praxiteles? Hermes, The Liar Who Invented the Lyre Inanna Adored: The Uruk Vase The Moon-God Nanna-Sin Visits his Ziggurat at Ur Apollo Sauroktonos, or How the Romans Killed the Lizard-Killer Jacob's Ladder Lilith: Wild Demon of Sex and Death DUMUZI FEEDS INANNA'S SHEEP The Sun God in his Dragon Boat Lassalle's Post-Modern Male Torso Brancusi's Torsos: Pure Platonic Forms? Rilke's Archaic Torso of Apollo Culsu & Vanth Lead the Dead into Hades Aita, the Etruscan Hades Socrates' Apology: The Background THE GREEK SPHINX Hypnos & Thanatos, Sleep & Death The SPHINX and The ROBOT PYTHAGOREAN HARMONICS: FROM PYTHAGORAS TO NEWTON Orestes Pursued by Furies in The Eumenides |
