Skip to Content
Today Open today 10–11 members | 11–5 public

Golden Bird

A minimalist, elongated sculpture made of reflective and shiny bronze. The sculpture is long and slightly curved, suggesting the shape of a bird, and sits atop a stone base that is balanced on top of a geometric wooden base.
© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Image actions

  • A minimalist, elongated sculpture made of reflective and shiny bronze. The sculpture is long and slightly curved, suggesting the shape of a bird, and sits atop a stone base that is balanced on top of a geometric wooden base.

Date:

1919/20 (base c. 1922)

Artist:

Constantin Brancusi
French, born Romania, 1876–1957

About this artwork

Trained in both folk and academic traditions, Constantin Brancusi sought his own path for sculpture around 1907. Breaking with the currents of the time, he adopted direct carving, combined different materials for single works, and simplified form in his search for his subjects’ essential characters. His works have profoundly influenced the development of twentieth-century abstraction.

More than any other theme, Brancusi’s series Bird summarizes his quest for a self-sufficient form. “All my life, I have sought to render the essence of flight,” the artist once said. He began the first of twenty-seven Bird sculptures around 1910 and completed the last in the 1940s. He called the earliest variations Maiastra, referring to a bird in Romanian folklore that leads a prince to his princess. In the Art Institute’s Golden Bird, details such as feet, a tail, and an upturned crowing beak are only suggested in an elegant, streamlined silhouette. Brâncusi perched this refined shape on a rough-hewn, geometric base, contrasting the disembodied, light-reflective surface with an earthbound mass. The central polyhedron was cut from the middle of a tree trunk, and its circles (indicating the tree’s age) rotate like a sun, as if radiating light over the bird.

Status

On View, Gallery 395

Department

Modern Art

Artist

Constantin Brancusi

Title

Golden Bird

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.

1919–1920

Medium

Bronze, stone, and wood

Inscriptions

Signed underneath: "C. Brancusi"

Dimensions

217.8 × 29.9 × 29.9 cm (86 × 11 3/4 × 11 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Partial gift of The Arts Club of Chicago; purchased with funds provided by various donors; through prior bequest of Arthur Rubloff; through prior purchase with funds provided by William E. Hartmann; through prior gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, Mr. and Mrs. Arnold H. Maremont through the Kate Maremont Foundation, Woodruff J. Parker, Mrs. Clive Runnells, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson, and various donors

Reference Number

1990.88

Copyright

© 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share