Constantin Brancusi

'Sleeping Muse', bronze sculpture by Constantin B (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantin_Brancusi)

I have always been in love with everything that means art: painting, sculpture, music. So I have chosen my hero from this world of beauties. I am a great admirer of the Romanian sculptor, Constantin Brancusi. He was a powerful and highly original personality of the modern universal sculpture.

Brancusi was born in Hobita-Pestisani, in Gorj county and attended the Vocational school in Craiova and the National Belle Arte School in Bucharest. In 1904 he set up for Paris and a year later was granted a scholarship at Belle Arte School. During this period he created some of his masterpieces: "Boy's bust", "Boy's head", "The prayer". He exhibited his sculptures for the first time at Societe des Beaux-Arts and at Salon d’Autumne in Paris in 1906. Later, he was accepted in Rodin's studio, but in 1907 he quit it, and his works became obviously polemical retorts to Rodin's "decadent impressionism". His most important works in this period were: "The sleep", "The sleeping muse", "The masterly bird", "Prometheus". His art became worldwide celebrated and enjoyed success in America, where in 1013 Brancusi attended the International Exhibition of Modern Art in New York.

In 1914 Brancusi opened his first exhibition in the United States at Photo Secession Gallery in New York City, which caused an enormous sensation. The concept of primary shapes influenced his subsequent works: "The first shout", "Princess X", "The new born", "Leda", "The beginning of the world". Back in Paris at his workshop from Impasse Ronsin, in the very heart of Paris, Brancusi created a world of his own with a Romanian atmosphere. The National Museum of Modern Art in Paris has an important number of masterpieces made by him. Brancusi returned to Romania after 1933 and started the work at his triptych in the town of Targu Jiu: "The Silent Table", "The Kiss Gate", "The Endless Column". Here he rediscovered the meanings of folk art, of the entire Romanian cultural heritage. Enlightened by the cult of his native land and ancestors, the sculptor discerned in time's endless flow the crucial moments of life-birth, love, work, death. His works concentrated generally human philosophical meanings, Brancusi being thus, both universal and Romanian. He embodied in his works the essence of things, the vitality of shape, created the unity between sensitive and spiritual. In his works, he reflected the Romanian’s peasant way if thinking about world. Through his peasant origin, Brancusi found the deep roots of his work in the traditions, myths and the magic function of the Romanian folk art. He showed the sacred dimension of reality to the occidental world.

Constantin Brancusi (guideromania.ro/site/?page_id=16)

As a central figure in the modern artistic movement, Brancusi is considered to be one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century. His sculptures are remarkable through the elegance of their shape and the sensitive use of the materials, combining the simplicity of the Romanian folk art with the refinement of the Parish avantgarde. The verticality, horizontality, weight, as well as the density and importance given to light and space are the characteristic features of his creation. His work has profoundly influenced the modern concept of shape in sculpture, paining and drawing. All these being said about Brancusi I am proud to consider him my hero.