Dedicated to the great Romanian sculptor, Brâncuși Day was celebrated at ICR Beijing with a photography exhibition and an art lecture titled "Constantin Brâncuși – Architecture, Inhabited Sculpture." The event was organized by ICR Beijing in partnership with the Union of Architects of Romania and took place on February 19, 2023, at 2:00 PM in the inner garden of the JinShang Gallery in the center of Beijing.
The exhibition featured a selection of 56 photographs from the curated exhibition by architect Prof. Dr. Sorin VASILESCU, commemorating the great Romanian sculptor on the 50th years of his passing. It showcased Brâncuși's main works exhibited in major museums around the world.(Măiastra, Miss Pogany, Young Portrait, Socrates, The Rooster (1922),Bird in Spaceetc. exhibited in MoMA New York,Miss Pogany I (1913), Kiss (1916), Bird in the Sky (1923 )from Philadelphia Museum of Art,Fish (1) (1922)Tate Modern Collection, Blonde Negress I (1926)Toledo Museum of Art,White Negress II(1928) Art Institute of Chicago, works from Constantin Brancusi's Center at Centre Pompidou,Blonde Negress II (1933)Mumok Vienna,Infinity Column, Table of Silence, The Kiss Gate (1935)from Târgu Jiu,Prayerand Wisdom of Earthfrom the National Museum of Art of Romania, etc.).
To kick off the opening ceremony, prof. dr. Zhi Min, vice-president of the Sculpture Institute at the China Academy of Art, presented the life and work of Constantin Brâncuși to the Chinese audience. Professor Zhi Min has conducted extensive research on the great Romanian sculptor, which has been published in specialized journals in China.
Building upon Brâncuși's statement that "architecture is inhabited sculpture," the conference continued with a presentation on the concept of the "Constantin Brâncuși Center" in Craiova, a remarkable creation by architect Dorin Ștefan. He carefully prepared a beautiful video essay (15 minutes, subtitled in English and Chinese) and engaged in a live Zoom dialogue with event participants. Mr. Dorin Ștefan is a member of the Union of Architects and one of the most prominent representatives of Romanian architecture, known for the innovative and unconventional nature of his projects. The Brâncuși Center in Craiova was inaugurated in the fall of 2022, fulfilling the great sculptor's last wish to have his works displayed in his home country.
Furthermore, Ms. Lilian Tian, an architect and the founder of WTL Design, our host, drew parallels between Brâncuși's sculpture and similar themes in modern Chinese art and sculpture. WTL Design, located in the heart of Beijing, is a company with two decades of experience in interior design and construction. It regularly hosts various cultural events in partnership with other embassies, cultural centers, artists, and academics, gaining significant visibility among the informed public.
In total, there were over 180 guests from the academic, artistic, and business sectors in China and abroad, including foreign diplomats from the EU representation in the People's Republic of China and colleagues from EUNIC, among others. The event was sponsored by Qmex Taqueria, Turkish Feast Steak House & Bar, Bottega, Malbec & Beef, and Qubbe.
The exhibition will remain open to the public until May 19, 2023. Due to the success of the event, JinShang has requested a repeat on March 22, 2023, at 6:00 PM, with VIP guests, conducted exclusively in the Chinese language.
This project aligns with ICR Beijing's strategy to support the public diplomacy priorities set by the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2023, aiming to promote Romanian values and culture in China.
Link photo event :https://live.photoplus.cn/live/pc/89828941/#/live
-----
CONSTANTIN BRÂNCUȘI was a Romanian artist considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century. As one of the founding figures of Modernism, Brâncuși radically simplified figurative forms, composing works in bronze, marble, stone, and wood. His elegant geometric volumes reexamine representation, often employing ovoid and elliptical shapes to evoke movement, repose, or spiritual reflection, as seen in his seminal work Bird in Space (1923). “What my work is aiming at is, above all, realism,” he once declared. “I pursue the inner, hidden reality, the very essence of objects in their own intrinsic fundamental nature; this is my only deep preoccupation.” Born on February 19, 1876 in Hobița, Romania, he studied art at the National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest before moving to Paris in 1904. In Paris, he worked as Auguste Rodin’s assistant for three years before establishing his own studio in 1907. Brâncuși exhibited in the landmark 1913 Armory Show in New York, where he sparked controversy with the abstract nature of his sculpture. Immersed in avant-garde circles in Paris, Brancusi maintained friendships with Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, and Marcel Duchamp. The artist died on March 16, 1957 in Paris, France. In 2017, his sculpture La muse endormie (Sleeping Muse) (1913), sold for a record-breaking $57.4 million at Christie’s, surpassing the artist’s former auction record of $37.3 million. Today, Brâncuși’s works are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and the Tate Modern in London, among others.
