What an interesting question. I'll be thinking about it, but I don't hold out much hope. I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to art, though the mention of metal makes me think of a sculpture. Maybe a hint will save me later.

TM

Mornin' all, I seem to have misplaced my crystal ball, darn it. I'll be back later if I find it.

Annette

Whoops, thought I had posted a clue-must be lost in space.

Anyway, yes, think sculpture. There were many versions of this by the artist, some in metal, some in marble. The sculptor always tried to depict the symbolic essence of his subjects rather than their physical forms.

Flying off to a neighbor's 85th birthday party. Back later with more clues. Let your imaginations soar!

Ok Cynthia....you warned us you were going to make them harder....Hmmmm???

First thing that came to mind was not a sculpture per se but metal yes.........thinking........

Ginny

Flying and soaring, a bird? A sculpture of a bird?

Annette

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's Superman! Just kidding but possibly a plane

Ginny

But why would anyone want to sculpt a plane? Hmmmm?

Ginny

Ginny, you're funny. :) Not a plane, although the new Air Force Memorial here in Arlington reminds me of the lines of this piece.

So, yes, think bird. Not the Maltese Falcon-teehee-that would be too traditional.

Now that we are home from the party, I am actually in my pjs-comfy. We have been gad-abouts this week almost every evening and I am tired in a good way for a change! Feeling a bit like a gypsy moving from place to place-except I guess I should use the term Roma-so I am ready to settle in for the evening a little early.

I am afraid of giving away too much. The artist's mentor was Auguste Rodin, but his work bears no resemblance to the mentor's style. Again, he sculpts the essence of his subjects rather than the reality (although I would argue that this particular work renders the reality because to me the essence is what is most real here). Pure, simple, sleek.

OK, the bird is the word. Go.

Bapa oom mow mow
Bapa oom mow mow

OK I have been thinking about this for a bit. I maybe have mentioned that I do ceramics and many of the classic molds come from inspiration of sculptures of old. The Thinker, The Kiss, Venus, David ect. I did 3 pieces last Christmas for my daughter and as it would happen, her new kitten knocked them off the mantle so I am redoing 2 of the 3 pieces. Two of the pieces are called Modern Pheasants...they really don't look like pheasants. There is another piece called The Serenity Dove. It doesn't look much like a bird either. So, that being said, I remember something I saw in an art class I took in University; it was actually on a film we watched about art styles or something. Maybe abstract art??? I remember a statue called Bird Of Space or Space Bird or something. It reminded me of these ceramic pieces I have done in that it was not "bird" looking. If memory serves me correctly, it was made of brass I think and looked more like some kind of space candle! I don't remember the artists name but I think he was German or Austrian or Polish, something like that. Probably couldn't pronounce his name anyway. I think the statue is in a museum in France or Germany??? so this is probably a long shot. That's all I got.

Ginny

PS Cynthia, this Modern Pheasant I'm doing (again) looks an awful lot like one of the spires on the Air Force monument too! Shall have to post a picture. The other piece that goes in the middle is called Circle Lamp and it looks absolutely nothing like a lamp! :)

Ginny

Well, I saw this question this am, but didn't post. I have been thinking that it must be cubist(?)or modern, given the timing. I got thinking about Henry Moore - his sculptures would probably have raised a few eyebrows in that day - even today, maybe!! That old saw, I don't know about art, but I like what I like...something like that.
The clues aren't helping, though, as I don't know that much about modern art...

Nancy.

Ginny, your ceramic references make me think of those ubiquitous seagulls from the eighties that everyone made at class.

Nancy.

Nancy, Moore was, in my mind, a little more organic than this artist. Would it help to know the polished bronze work was being accompanied by Marcel Duchamp and was destined for Edward Steichen after the exhibition in NY?

Hmmm, more clues? The artist came from a country where Anne Rice may have done research for her popular books.

Off to have a bowl of raisin Bran cus I ate too much at the party, I guess and nothing else appeals tonight. Cynthia

Hmmm... When I think of Ann Rice, I think of vampires in Transylvania *spoken with the Count Dracula drawl*. Is this artist from Romania? How close to German is Romanian?

Nancy ~ The seagulls, if they are the ones I am thinking of, are actually The Serenity Doves and they are very much still hangin' around the few ceramic studios left! Lol!

Cynthia ~ Going back to the artist I was talking about earlier, for some reason I think of Kris Kringle when the memory of that sculpture comes to mind. Is his name Christian or something like that? Again, just a wild shot....

Ginny

We visit art museums when we travel and I have seen many versions of Rodin's Walking Man. One year it seemed every museum we visited had one.

Hours and hours spent walking amongst sculpture and through sculpture gardens aren't helping me with this question.

Oh dear Cynthia. I meant to say bronze. Was thinkng about the Thinker I did in ceramics as well. I remember looking for rubs that were bronze to finish him with. :0

Ginny

Oh, Ginny-meant to say I would love to see your sculptures.

Okay, you know it is a bird. Like the AF memorial, it is evocative of flight. Astronauts might like the title of the work. Ginny is oh-so-close. Yes, he is a Romanian.

Try re-reading my last post. Maybe I was too ridiculous in trying to give you a clue to the artist's name.

Cynthia

I have no idea of the guys name only that it reminds me of Christmas or Kris Kringle. As for your clue Cyn, are we to think his name is Bran_____. Brando???Lol! No idea. The only thing I remember about the statue was that it looked nothing like a bird! But I think I remember now that we were studying the use of "negative space" in art class. Another reason I remembered, sort of, the name of the piece. I also remember thinkng of it in terms of the space it took up around it and not really outer space???? Oh I'm so confused! :)

Ginny

I am soooooooo not getting this!! lol. I cannot wait to see the answer, though.

Nancy.

Now I ask you. Does this look anything like a pheasant?

Nancy ~ I think the seagulls you are referring to look like seagulls too. My instructor says the mold is called The Serenity Dove. Looks like Johnathan to me. Lol

Ginny

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I love that! Very cool and very much like my guy. You stopped too soon with the name though...

Cynthia

Is he the guy who did the "Princess" who looks a lot more like a Prince? I don't know what his name is but he certainly looked at life from a different perspective, IMO! I think that guy is French though.....

Ginny

Good morning everyone!

Constantin Brancusi was a Romanian artist who created
Bird in Space ("l'oiseau dans l'espace") in 1923. The sculpture turned into a series of 16 sculptures in bronze and marble. His purpose was to capture "the essence of flight" which I think he did quite spectacularly.

The really fun part of the story comes in 1926 when "Bird in Space" was shipped to the US along with other Brancusi sculptures for a show (he had already exhibited in NY during the 1913 Armory Show). Works of art are not charged custom duties, but the custom officials refused to accept the piece as art. They classified it as a manufactured metal piece and charged a tariff of 40% of the sales price which at the time came to about $200+. Sidenote: In 2005, his original B in S piece sold for $27.5 million which was a record for sculpture. Anyway, under objections from DuChamp, Steichen, and Brancusi, customs officials agreed to release the piece on bond under the label "kitchen utensils and hospital supplies." That was later reversed by an official who reclassified it again as manufactured metal. Under the Customs definitions, for a piece to be considered duty-free, it "must be an original work of art, with no practical purpose, made by a professional sculptor." All agreed the piece had no practical purpose, but the definition of it as art was disputed. It was their opinion that Brancusi left too much to the imagination-isn't that a good thing?

Brancusi submitted an affadavit attesting to the works originality:

"I conceived it to be created in bronze and I made a plaster model of it. This I gave to the founder, together with the formula for the bronze alloy and other necessary indications. When the roughcast was delivered to me, I had to stop up the air holes and the core hole, to correct the various defects, and to polish the bronze with files and very fine emery. All this I did myself, by hand; this artistic finishing takes a very long time and is equivalent to beginning the whole work over again. I did not allow anybody else to do any of this finishing work, as the subject of the bronze was my own special creation and nobody but myself could have carried it out to my satisfaction."

The decision that led to a broader definition of modern art and what constitues art came down:
The object now under consideration . . . is beautiful and symmetrical in outline, and while some difficulty might be encountered in associating it with a bird, it is nevertheless pleasing to look at and highly ornamental, and as we hold under the evidence that it is the original production of a professional sculptor and is in fact a piece of sculpture and a work of art according to the authorities above referred to, we sustain the protest and find that it is entitled to free entry."

Another note: Although today, we may not look at Rodin as quite a "modern" artist, during his time, he was revolutionary as were all the Impressionists. Rodin moved from objective, classical sculpture to a much more subjective expression. "The Thinker" is not the heroic statue of the past, but the spark of the future. He recognized a talent in Brancusi and helped to foster it.

Ginny came closest on this one!

Brancusi has been a favorite since I discovered him while in high school and this is my absolute favorite of his works.

Thanks for playing, friends. I need to come up with something for next week that is tough, but lends itself to clever clues a la Nancy and TM. Hang in there with me! I am working on it!!

Cynthia

Here is a link that might be useful: Bird in Space

Very cool, cyn! I do admit my formal training lacks artistic input! I love that he had to explain the 'mechanical' process by which the piece was created. You have to wonder sometimes if the customs guys weren't being obtuse on purpose. How else could they think that form was clever way to ship metal?? Thanks, I enjoyed seeing the art.

Nancy.

Thanks, Cynthia, for this question. I found it very interesting and enjoyed researching and seeing several of the different versions. Expect that I saw a marble version at the Metropolitan Museum of Art though I do not remember it. I think I prefer the bronze versions though the last two marble versions are quite impressive.

Here is a link that might be useful: Black and White Birds in Space marble versions

I'm sure glad my life didn't depend on answering this question. I'd be a goner. A math and science geek like me just doesn't know much about this stuff, but it's always interesting to hear about.

Good job stumping us, Cynthia.

TM

I prefer the metal version, too. I love its reflective quality-seems more ethereal to me and less tied to the earth as the marble ones. Still, they are also pretty wonderful.

Cynthia

OK Cyn! Now I know why I thought of Kris Kringle. Back then I guess it was what came to mind as Constantin. I didn't remember the guys name, only my notes in my head! I do remember the piece now that I see it. And it still looks like a space candle to me! I am far more a Realist when it comes to art. I like detail. :)

That was lots of fun Cynthia! It amazes me the things that are way back in my memory (however unclear) that these trivia questions bring up. I guess it was Brancusi who did "Princess X" now that I reference it. Nope, just not my style although I do like the clean lines and shapes in Brancusi's abstract/ impressionistic art.

Thanks again for the fun Cynthia!

Ginny