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The top half of this abstract sculpture is made up of a vertical, elongated form carved from white marble that swells gently at the center and tapers to a point at either end. Near the bottom point, the form flares out slightly to make a tall, conical foot. This sits atop a base made of three stacked pieces that together are about the same height as the swelling form. First, just below the elongated form, a short cylinder sits on the center of a piece that would look like a plus sign if viewed from above. Both the cylinder and plus-sign are carved from cream-colored stone, so are a little darker than the whiter, swelling form above. The tall, dark brown wooden base below is carved in a shape like an angular hourglass.

Constantin Brâncuși

Bird in Space, 1925

East Building, Upper Level — Gallery 415-C

Medium

marble, stone, and wood

Dimensions

overall (marble "bird"): 181.9 x 13.7 x 16.2 cm (71 5/8 x 5 3/8 x 6 3/8 in.)
overall (total height of bird and bases): 344.6 cm (135 11/16 in.)
overall (height of both stone bases): 44.8 cm (17 5/8 in.)
overall (height of wood base): 120 cm (47 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

Accession Number

1967.13.3

Artists / Makers

Constantin Brâncuși (artist) Romanian, 1876 - 1957

Image Use

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Copyright

Provenance

Acquired 1925 by Eugene [1875-1959] and Agnes E. [1887-1970] Meyer, Jr., Mount Kisco, New York, and Washington, D.C.;[1] gift 1967 to NGA.

[1] Constantin Brancusci 1876-1957, Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995: 232.

Associated Names

Meyer, Agnes Ernst
Meyer, Eugene and Agnes Ernst

Exhibition History

1926: Brancusi, The Brummer Gallery, New York, 1926, no. 30, repro.

1978: Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 74, repro.

1995: Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1995, no. 85, repro.

Bibliography

1958: Giedion-Welcker, Carola. Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957. Neuchâtel, 1958: pl. 60, 223.

1968: Geist, Sidney. Brancusi. A Study of the Sculpture. New York, 1968: no. 163, repro. 96.

1968: Huyghe, Rene. "L'Energie moteur de l'art du vingtième Siècle." Studies in the History of Art (1967-68):44-66.

1974: Geist, Sidney. "Brancusi, the Meyers, and Portrait of Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr.." Studies in the History of Art vol. 6 (1974):188, 191, 199, 203 repro.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 651, no. 1030, repro.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 315, color repro.

1992: National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 260, repro.

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 32, repro.