Agnes E. Meyer

1929

Constantin Brâncuși

Associated Names
Constantin Brâncuși

Artist, Romanian, 1876 - 1957

The sculpture is an abstract, elongated form. It is upright and smoothly curved, with a shiny black surface. The sculpture is comprised of curving segments that blend together, almost like an abstracted human leg with exaggerated bulges. It stands on a square block, which is placed on a cylindrical base of the same glossy black material.
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On View

East Building Upper Level, Gallery 415

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    marble

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

  • Dimensions

    overall (total height of sculpture and bases): 230.1 cm (90 9/16 in.)
    overall (sculpture): 134 × 24.8 × 32.7 cm (52 3/4 × 9 3/4 × 12 7/8 in.)
    overall (square base): 34.9 × 45.09 × 45.09 cm (13 3/4 × 17 3/4 × 17 3/4 in.)
    overall (cylindrical base): 61.3 × 30.8 cm (24 1/8 × 12 1/8 in.)
    gross weight (sculpture and bases): 870 lb. (394.629 kg)
    gross weight (sculpture): 283 lb. (128.368 kg)
    gross weight (square base): 319 lb. (144.697 kg)
    gross weight (cylindrical base): 268 lb. (121.564 kg)

  • Accession Number

    1967.13.4

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired 1934 by Eugene [1875-1959] and Agnes E. [1887-1970] Meyer, Jr., Mount Kisco, New York, and Washington, D.C.; gift 1967 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1933

  • [exhibition], Salon des Tuileries, Paris, 1933, no. 345.

  • Brancusi, Brummer Gallery, New York, 1933-1934, no. 2.

1978

  • Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 75, repro.

1995

  • Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995, no. 96, repro. (shown only in Philadelphia).

2005

  • Brancusi and Serra in Dialogue, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, 2005, no cat.

Bibliography

1953

  • Meyer, Agnes E. Out of These Roots: The Autobiography of an American Woman. Boston, 1953: 82-83.

1958

  • Bower, Anthony. "Problems of Portraiture - Sculpture." ArtAm (Winter 1958-1959): 52-59.

1963

  • Jianou, Ionel. Brancusi. New York, 1963: 95.

1968

  • Geist, Sidney. Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture. New York, 1968: 103-106, 228-229.

1974

  • Geist, Sidney. "Brancusi, the Meyers, and Portrait of Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr.." Studies in the History of Art 6 (1974): 188-212, repro.

1975

  • Geist, Sidney. Brancusi: the Sculpture and Drawings. New York, 1975: 138, 190, no. 195.

1980

  • Hyland, Douglas K.S. "Agnes Ernst Meyer, Patron of American Modernism." The American Art Journal 12, no. 1 (Winter 1980): 73, 77.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 651, no. 1031, repro.

1993

  • Chave, Anna C. Constantin Brancusi: Shifting the Bases of Art. New Haven and London, 1993: 36, fig. 1.17.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 34, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q63854584

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