Constantin Brancusi
Bird in Space1927, cast later

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Gold-finished sculpture in the form of a tall, narrow leaf or flame shape, mounted on a small white marble cylinder, against a salmon-pink background

Tall, slender gold-toned metal sculpture with a highly polished surface, tapering to a sharp point at the top and narrowing to a flared base on a small white cylindrical plinth.

Artist or Maker: Constantin Brancusi
Romania, active France, 1876-1957
Title: Bird in Space
Place Made: France
Date Made: 1927, cast later
Medium: Polished bronze, cast number 4/5
Dimensions: Height: 73 in (185.4 cm); diameter: 8 in. (20.32 cm)
Credit Line: Partial, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof
Accession Number: M.2005.70.13
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures of simplified subjects, perfected and idealized, often convey the essence of things over their external appearance. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the theme of the bird in flight preoccupied him, with the artist concentrating on the animal’s movement, rather than its physical characteristics. Brancusi cast sixteen versions of Bird in Space in various sizes and media during his lifetime, two of which are in LACMA’s collection. In 1926, a U.S. Customs official refused to recognize a version of Bird in Space as art, which would have prevented it from being subject to import taxes. Brancusi brought a lawsuit in protest, and in 1928 the iconic sculpture became central to a landmark court decision determining that art need not be realistic, but could be abstract.

Wall label, 2021.
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie. Envisioning Modernism: The Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2012.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Transformation: the LACMA Campaign. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2008.
Copyright: © Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (ARS)

Related Unframed

Constantin Brancusi
Bird in Space1927, cast later

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Artist or Maker: Constantin Brancusi
Romania, active France, 1876-1957
Title: Bird in Space
Place Made: France
Date Made: 1927, cast later
Medium: Polished bronze, cast number 4/5
Dimensions: Height: 73 in (185.4 cm); diameter: 8 in. (20.32 cm)
Credit Line: Partial, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof
Accession Number: M.2005.70.13
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures of simplified subjects, perfected and idealized, often convey the essence of things over their external appearance. From the 1920s to the 1940s, the theme of the bird in flight preoccupied him, with the artist concentrating on the animal’s movement, rather than its physical characteristics. Brancusi cast sixteen versions of Bird in Space in various sizes and media during his lifetime, two of which are in LACMA’s collection. In 1926, a U.S. Customs official refused to recognize a version of Bird in Space as art, which would have prevented it from being subject to import taxes. Brancusi brought a lawsuit in protest, and in 1928 the iconic sculpture became central to a landmark court decision determining that art need not be realistic, but could be abstract.

Wall label, 2021.
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie. Envisioning Modernism: The Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2012.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Transformation: the LACMA Campaign. Los Angeles: Museum Associates, 2008.
Copyright: © Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (ARS)