Wisdom

c. 1908

Constantin Brancusi
French, born Romania, 1876–1957

Constantin Brancusi carved Wisdom from a block of limestone, highlighting its natural properties, especially its coarse texture. The artist’s interest in the stone’s materiality intersected with his desire to explore the essence of his subject in the most economical terms, evident in the form’s shallow, incised nose and tightly folded limbs. Brancusi further distilled his subject to its core by creating a figure that stands freely, without a base.

In contrast to sculptors who modeled their work from materials such as clay or plaster and cast them in multiples, Brancusi directly carved his sculptures. He called this technique “the true road to sculpture” and drew inspiration from archaic, self-taught, and non-Western art.

Status: On View, Gallery 391
Department: Modern Art

Artist: Constantin Brancusi
Title: Wisdom
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1903–1913
Medium: Limestone
Dimensions: 56.5 × 18.4 × 36.3 cm (22 1/4 × 7 1/4 × 14 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Reference Number: 1955.646
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

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, 1906-8.
Gindertael, Roger Van, Brancusi (1956), p. 10.
Lewis, David, Constantin Brancusi (New York: George Wittenborn Incorporated, 1957), pp. 11–14, 16, n.p. (pl. 5), as Ancient Figure, 1906-8.
Giedion-Welcker, Carola, Constantin Brancusi trans. by Maria Jolas and Anne Leroy (New York: George Braziller, Inc., 1959) pp. 15 (n. 1), 46 (ill., pl. 2), 235, 237, pl. 2, as Ancient Figure (Figure Ancienne), about 1908.
Jianou, Ionel, Brancusi, (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1963), p. 94, as Ancient Figure, 1909.
Spear, Athena T., “Letter to the Editor,” Art Bulletin, v. 48, nos. 3–4 (September–December 1966), p. 467, as Ancient Figure.
Paleolog, V. G., Tineretea Lui Brancusi (Bucharest: Editura Tineretului, 1967), n.p. (ill., fig. 54), as Figura Antica, 1908.
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: New York University Press/College Art Association, 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.
Constantin Brancusi, Plastiken—Zeichnungen exh. cat. (Duisburg: Wilhelm-Lehmbruck Museum, 1976), pp. 95, 96 (ill., fig. 8), 97, 99, as Ancient Figure, La Sagesse, c. 1909.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1983), pp. 30, 187 (ill.), 231-2, 257 (cat. 68A, ill.), as Ancient Figure and La Sagesse, 1909.
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, early 1907.
Bach, Friedrich Teja, Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plastischer Form (Cologne: DuMont Buchverlag, 1987) pp. 429 (cat. 94, ill.), 508, 510, 518, as Alte Figur (Figure ancienne), um 1909.
Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi (Paris: Flammarion, 1986), pp. 74 (ill.), 75, 282 (cat. 53, ill.), , as Figure ancienne, 1908.
Andreotti, Margherita, “Brancusi’s Golden Bird: A New Species of Modern Sculpture,” Museum Studies 19, 2 (1993), p. 198, n. 1, as Wisdom, c. 1908.
Voltz-Locher, Christa, Constantin Brancusi (Kultur Verlag/Austria, 1994).
Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Constantin Brancusi (Paris: Flammarion, 1995), pp. 66, 67 (ill.), as Figure ancienne, 1908.
Miller, Sanda, Constantin Brancusi: A Survey of His Work (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), pp. xiv, 74, 75 (ill., pl. 55), 76–7, 106 (n. 91), 107 (n. 96), 124, 126, 243, as Ancient Figure, 1906-8.
Gheorghiu, Dragos, “Brancusi’s ‘Prodigal Son’,” The Burlington Magazine, 138, 1125 (December 1996), p. 823, as Ancient Figure, 1908.
Lemny, Doïna, Constantin Brancusi (Paris: Oxus, 2005), pp. 49-51, as Figure ancienne, 1909.

Possibly 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, 1906–1908.
New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Constantin Brancusi, October 16, 1955–January 8, 1956, n.p., no cat. no., as Ancient Figure, 1906–1908 [withdrawn]; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, January 27–February 26, 1956.

M. Alexandre Stoppelaere, 9ter rue d’Alesia, Paris [this and the following according to letter from Albert Loeb, June 19, 1967, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Galerie Pierre, Paris by 1954 [this and the following according to letters from Jane Wade of Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, Dec. 14, 1954 and from Sidney Geist, Jan. 21, 1964; copies in curatorial object file]; sold to Curt Valentin Gallery, New York, summer 1954; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1955.

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