About This Artwork

Constantin Brâncusi
French, born Romania, 1876–1957

Wisdom, c. 1908

Limestone
22 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 14 1/4 in. (56.5 x 18.4 x 36.3 cm)
Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund, 1955.646

© 2008 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

London, Grafton Galleries, Eighth London Salon of the Allied Artists’ Association, March 1916, p. 23, cat. 19, as La Sagesse.

New York, Curt Valentin Gallery, Closing Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings and Drawings, June 8, 1955, n.p., cat. 9, as Seated Figure.

New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Constantin Brancusi, October 16, 1955–January 8, 1956, n.p., no cat. no., as Ancient Figure; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 27–February 26, 1956.

Publication History

Grafton Galleries, Eighth London Salon of the Allied Artists’ Association exh. cat. (London: Grafton Galleries, 1916), p. 23, cat. 19, as La Sagesse.
Curt Valentin Gallery, Closing Exhibition: Sculpture, Paintings and Drawings exh. cat. (New York: Curt Valentin gallery, 1955), n.p., cat. 9, as Seated Figure.
Gindertael, Roger Van, (1956), p. 10.

Lewis, David, Constantin Brancusi (New York: George Wittenborn Incorporated, 1957), pp. 11–14, 16, pl. 5, as Ancient Figure.

Gideion-Welcker, Carola, Constantin Brancusi (Basel: Benno Schwabe and Co., 1958) pp. 15 (n. 1), 46 (ill.), 235, 237, pl. 2, as Ancient Figure (Figure Ancienne).

Jianou, Ionel, Brancusi, (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1963), p. 94, as Ancient Figure.

Spear, Athena T., “Letter to the Editor,” Art Bulletin, v. 48, nos. 3–4 (September–December 1966), p. 467.

Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968) pp. 30, 187 (ill.), 231-2, as Ancient Figure.

Spear, Athena T., Brancusi’s Birds (New York University Press, 1969), p. 129, as Seated Figure.

Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: The Sculpture and Drawings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975), p. 193, as Ancient Figure.
Magid, Deborah Menaker, “A Note on Brancusi and the London Salon,” Art Journal, v. 35, no. 2 (Winter 1975/76), pp. 105-6 (ill.), fig. 2, as Ancient Figure.

Geist, Sidney, “La Sagesse or Cumintenia pˇamîntului?,” Klassiker der modernen Plastik: Constantin Brancusi, Plastiken—Zeichnungen exh. cat. (Duisburg: Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, 1976), pp. 95, 96 (ill.), 97, 99, fig. 8, as Ancient Figure, La Sagesse.

Varia, Radu, Brancusi (New York: Rizzoli, 1986), pp. 57, 59, 62 (ill.), 63, 64 (ill.), 65 (ill), 66, 134, 300 (n. 7), as Ancient Figure.

Bach, Friedrich Teja, Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plastischer Form (Köln: DuMont Buchverlag, 1987) pp. 429 (ill.), 508, 510, 518, fig. 94, as Alte Figur (Figure ancienne).

Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi (Flammarion, 1986), pp. 74 (ill.), 282 (ill.), cat. 53, as Ancient Figure.

Andreotti, Margherita, “Brancusi’s Golden Bird: A New Species of Modern Sculpture,” Museum Studies v. 19, no. 2 (1993), p. 198, n. 1.

Voltz-Locher, Christa, Constantin Brancusi (Kultur Verlag/Austria, 1994).

Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Tout l’art monographie: Constantin Brancusi (Flammarion, 1995), pp. 68, 69 (ill.), as Figure ancienne.

Miller, Sanda, Constantin Brancusi: A Survey of His Work (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. 74, 75 (ill.), 76–7, 106 (n. 91), 107 (n. 96), 124, 126, 243, pl. 55, as Ancient Figure.

Ownership History

M. Alexandre Stoppelaire, 9ter rue d’Alesia, Paris [letter of June 19, 1967 from Albert Loeb in curatorial file]; sold to Pierre Loeb Gallery, Paris by 1954 [letter mentioned above and letter of January 21, 1964 from Sidney Geist in curatorial file]; sold to Curt Valentin Gallery, Inc., New York, summer 1954–June 1955 [letter from Sidney Geist listed above]; sold to the Art Institute, 1955.