康斯坦丁 · 布朗庫西

艾琳•裡•金尼, 華盛頓 （約1920-1930年間由畫家本人贈送； 賣出： 紐約蘇富比, 1981年5月21日, 拍品編號 549）
西德尼•詹尼斯, 紐約（於上述拍賣會購入）
賣出：紐約佳士得, 1999年5月13日, 拍品編號488
於上述拍賣會購入

紐約, 古根海姆博物館、 費城, 費城藝術博物館、芝加哥, 芝加哥藝術學院, 「康斯坦丁•布朗庫西, 1876－1957： 回顧展」, 1969年, 圖錄附圖版
紐約, 西德尼•詹尼斯畫廊, 「布朗庫西＋蒙德里安」, 1982-83年, 品號1, 圖錄附圖版
巴塞爾, 比約里基金會、 畢爾巴古根海姆博物館, 「塞拉/布朗庫西」, 2011-12年, 圖錄附彩色圖版

克里斯奇恩．澤佛斯，《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西，雕塑， 油畫，壁畫，繪畫》，巴黎， 1957年，收錄大理石版本圖版頁34
卡羅拉．吉地安－威爾加，《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西》， 紐約，1959年， 收錄大理石版本圖版頁61
依安奈爾．加奴，《布朗庫西》， 巴黎，1963年， 收錄大理石版本圖版37
雅典娜．塔查．施佩爾， 《對布朗庫西年譜的貢獻》，《藝術通報》， 第XLVIII册，第1期，1966年， 品號43，第53頁
西德尼．蓋斯特，《布朗庫西彫塑研究》， 紐約，1967年， 品號79a， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版頁39
巴爾布．比爾茲安奴，《帕裘里亞與布朗庫西》，《藝術》， 第XXI册， 第1號， 1974年，收錄另一鑄成品圖版21
西德尼．蓋斯特， 《布朗庫西的彫塑與繪畫》， 紐約，1975年，收錄大理石版本與此作品圖版頁59
巴爾布．比爾茲安奴，《布朗庫西在羅馬利亞 ， 布加勒斯特》，1976年， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版26
西德尼．蓋斯特，《布朗庫西+蒙德里安： 一個總和， 一個總結》，《藝術論壇》， 第XXI册，第6號， 1983年2月， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版79
拉都．瓦利亞，《布朗庫西》，紐約，1986年， 收錄大理石版本與另一鑄成品圖版刊於第148頁； 石膏版本圖版頁149
邦特斯．侯爾頓、 納塔利婭．杜米特雷斯庫、亞歷山大．依斯特拉提，《布朗庫西》， 紐約， 1986年， 品號66b， 收錄大理石版本圖版頁111， 285
弗里德里希．提亞．巴赫，《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西， 塑造形式的脫變》，科隆， 1987年， 品號105a， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版頁109
伊迪絲．巴拉斯， 《布朗庫西與羅馬利亞的民間傳統》， 紐約， 1987年， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版104
埃里克．史恩斯， 《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西》， 紐約，1989年，收錄大理石版本圖版頁80
弗里德里希．提亞•巴赫、馬爾吉．特羅威爾、安•特姆，《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西， 1876-1957》 (展覽圖錄) 法國國立現代藝術美術館、蓬皮杜中心，巴黎、費城藝術博物館，費城，1995年， 收錄大理石版本圖版頁106－107， 水泥版本圖版頁108，另一鑄成品圖版頁109
安娜．C．鍥夫, 《康斯坦丁．布朗庫西，藝術基礎的轉移》， 紐黑文，1993年， 收錄大理石版本圖版頁128
《布朗庫西工作室收藏》， 巴黎， 1997年， 收錄另一鑄成品圖版頁85， 142
帕烏拉．摩拉編輯，《布朗庫西， 白色作品》 (展覽圖錄)， 佩吉古根海姆博物館， 威尼斯， 2005年， 收錄大理石版本圖版頁43， 另一鑄成品圖版封面、封底

This work is in very good condition. Surface consists of electroplated gold over a bronze-copper alloy. The cast is structurally sound. There are scattered pindot-size marks on the surface inherent to the artist's casting process. The gold patina shows a few areas of rubbing, notably on the base surface and the raised features of the face, and a few minor abrasions. The surface appears to have been untouched, neither retouched nor re-gilded, which is a rarity for early works by the artist.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Prométhée exemplifies the unique sculptural language Constantin Brancusi developed in the early years of the twentieth century. The work displays an unprecedented stylization of form in which the artist re-established his own artistic idiom. After arriving in Paris from Bucharest in 1904, Brancusi proceeded to revolutionize the boundaries of sculptural form. He created a sophisticated minimalism that combined influences ranging from primitive models to Romanian folk traditions and the sleek machine aesthetic of the industrial age. Brancusi took form to the brink of abstraction while relying upon the romantic power of representation.

Brancusi arrived at the radical simplification of form in Prométhée through a series of ovoid works that he began in 1908 with L'enfant endormie. This work in marble depicted the head of a sleeping child, disassociated from the body. The facial features were relatively clear, including the child's hair. Brancusi then drew out the form of this work in Muse endormie of 1909-10 (fig. 1). Though the forms are somewhat abstracted in this work, there is still clear delineation of eyes, mouth and nose. In the leap from Muse endormie to Prométhée, executed the following year, is a vital gesture in the trajectory of 20th century sculpture. The influence of primitive sculpture played a major role in the formal language that permeates this series of works. In particular the subtle arcs that describe the eyes and nose of Prométhée find precedents in Cycladic figural representations (fig. 3).

Marielle Tabert describes this gesture in Prométhée in a recent exhibition catalogue, "The final work is devoid of all pathos, the inclination of the head borrowed from a gesture of grief that Brancusi used in the works of his youth (as in his study of the Laocoön, or in the Supplices (Torment) series). The contortion has vanished with the elimination of the body, while the simplification achieved the year before with Muse endormie (I) draws on the child's head in an amplified form. Now an ovoid shape, with the severed neck referring to the absent body, the head amounts to an almost perfect sphere, barely indicated by the pinching of the nose and the suggestion of an ear... After having imagined it and then extracted it from a fragment of marble depicting Prometheus, Brancusi really did sever the head of a figure condemned to destruction" (Marielle Tabart, Serra/Brancusi (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 94).

Though its formal language is radically abstract, Prométhée was in essence a figural subject. Brancusi took as his model the son of his Romanian friend Otilia Cosmutza. The boy posed for Brancusi with his arm raised and head tilted back, a gesture reminiscent of historical paintings of Prometheus such as Peter Paul Rubens' Prometheus Bound from 1611-12 (fig. 4). Margit Pogany, a young art student who modelled for Brancusi in December 1910 and January 1911, sent a translation of Goethe's poem Prometheus (circa 1774) to the sculptor. In the accompanying note, she wrote "And it will show you that a glorious death is far less noble than a struggle" (quoted in Pontus Hultén, Natalia Dumitresco & Alexandre Istrati, op.cit., p. 86).

Brancusi was clearly taken with Goethe's poem, taking this as his subject matter in 1911. The tilt of the head which is so vital in Brancusi's interpretation perhaps derives from Goethe's words:

When I was a child,
And did not know the in or out,
I turned my wandering eyes toward
The sun, as if beyond it there were
An ear to hear my lament,
A heart like mine,
To take pity on the afflicted.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Prometheus, 1772-74

The character of Prometheus figured prominently in the works of Old Masters, many of which Brancusi would have seen in the museums of Bucharest and Paris. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was a titan who took the invention of fire from the gods and gave it to mortals. As punishment for his crime, Prometheus was bound to a rock, his liver eaten each day by an eagle only to grow back the following day. The pathos inherent in such a story has appealed to artists since its first appearance in Hesiod's Theogony from the late eighth century.

With Prométhée, however, Brancusi does not express an interest in the narrative of this subject. He extracts simply the essential moment, leaving only the tilt of the ovoid form as a signifier of the story. In a 1916 letter to the owner of the marble version of this sculpture, John Quinn, Brancusi specified that the sculpture be presented on its right side so as to achieve the proper tilt (Marielle Tabart, Serra/Brancusi (exhibition catalogue), op. cit., p. 94). With this subtle inclination, Brancusi references a rich and complex historical lineage. The emotional resonance which the sculptor is able to extract from this mythological subject with such limited formal gestures is a testament to his vision for Modernist sculpture.

Ann Temkin suggests that the fate of Prometheus serves as a metaphor for the sculptor's struggle with representation. She writes, "As a Titan, a creature between god and man, Prometheus became the exemplar of the artist trapped between earthly confines and heavenly aspirations. 'Never, never can we catch the essence of our nature, we are bound like Prometheus to our own limitations,' a visitor quoted Rodin, who sculpted a Prometheus in 1917. Brancusi's sense of endless labor echoes this Romantic sentiment, and Prometheus often has been referred to as implicit self-portrait. The paradox of the solid weight of the resting head and the gleaming weightlessness of the reflective surface exemplifies the struggle between fixedness and freedom' (A. Temkin in Friedrich Teja Bach, Margit Rowell & Ann Temkin, op. cit., p. 108).

Brancusi executed this model across four different media, exploring the concept of form in bronze, marble, plaster and cast stone. In addition to the present work, there are three other bronze casts of Prométhée (The Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the third is in a Private Collection). Brancusi also created one in marble (The Philadelphia Museum of Art), two in plaster (Muzuel de Arta, Bucharest and Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris) and two in black cast stone (The University of Cambridge, England and one in a Private Collection).