The pure, abstract sculptures made by Constantin Brancusi have had a large and enthusiastic audience in New York ever since they were first shown on American soil at the 1913 Armory Show. The numerous American collectors, muses, friends, and exhibitions that enabled his success had a profound influence on the eccentric Romanian artist who lived in Paris. And the feeling was definitely reciprocated. From the trial concerning his Bird in Space—which helped define modern art—to his first museum retrospective, and his dream of a skyscraper sculpture, New York was the place where Brancusi’s career unfolded. Over the last one hundred years his effect on the city’s art scene has never waned.
Through stunning archival images and text by art curator Jérôme Neutres, Brancusi New York 1913-2013 tells the story of the mutually beneficial relationship between the sculptor and the Big Apple. The book also features gorgeous new photographs of the five bronze sculptures on display at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York for the exhibition Brancusi in New York: 1913–2013.
Jérôme Neutres has been the special advisor to the president of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux–Grand Palais since 2010, and he is a board member of the Guimet Museum, both in Paris. He holds a PhD in philosophy and literature and is the author of many essays and books on literature and the arts. Formerly he was the cultural attaché of the French Embassy in the United States, based in New York.
He has curated numerous modern and contemporary art exhibitions, including: Jean-Michel Basquiat, French Collections at the French Embassy in New York (2007); Helmut Newton at the Grand Palais (2012); Du côté de chez Jacques-Émile Blanche at the Fondation Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent (2012); and two upcoming shows, Bill Viola and Robert Mapplethorpe at the Grand Palais (2014).