Brancusi and His Muses (Brancusi et ses muses)

Brancusi appears in the art world as a singular figure whose work impressed both for the purity of its forms and its modernity, and for a form of archaism that is difficult to characterise. By revolutionising 20th-century sculpture, the Romanian artist sparked a vast debate on modern art that remains relevant today, with his work being the subject of numerous studies. Brancusi’s entire body of work was marked by the figures of the women who accompanied him through each stage of his life. They were an integral part of his creative process and his approach as an artist, who always sought to capture the very essence of their personalities. Much appreciated by women in general, a seducer but a loyal friend, he exerted a kind of magnetism over those who frequented his studio and inspired his sculpture, exchanging abundant correspondence with him. Brancusi and his muses explores the nature of this inspiration, evoking friends, mistresses and patrons such as the Swiss dancer Marthe Lebherz and the English pianist Vera Moore. Margit Pogany, Léonie Ricou, Eileen Lane, Baroness Renée-Irana Frachon, Agnes E. Meyer and her four daughters Marina Chaliapin, Nancy Cunard, Beatrice Wood, Mina Loy, Lizica and Irina Codreanu all inspired major works of modern sculpture.

This is the subject of this book, which sheds new light on the greatest sculptor of the 20th century. Such a work is aimed as much at art history specialists as at a wider audience interested in artistic life in France at the beginning of the 20th century.