Constantin Brancusi, Muse endormie [I], 1910, Bronze, polished, 16 x 27.3 x 18.5 cm, Centre...

The Fondation Beyeler is devoting its large summer exhibition to the art of Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) and Richard Serra (b. 1939), two of the most important sculptors of the twentieth century.
The French-Romanian artist who infused modern French sculpture with poetry and minimalism during the 20th century is put side by side with an American contemporary, Serra, and his monumental steel works.
The essential aspects of Brancusi’s work are illuminated by about 40 exemplary pieces, arranged in the exhibition in various thematic groupings. Among the ensembles of works on view are different variants of the monolithic piece The Kiss, the poetic Children’s Heads, Sleeping Muses, female torsos, and the renowned Birds in Space, as well as the scandal-triggering Princess X, Adam and Eve, or the iconic Endless Column.
The crucial recognition of an ideal presence in space, the question as to the essence of sculpture, is approached in a different if not less compelling way in ten sculptural works from different phases of Serra’s oeuvre. In addition, a new series of works on paper will be on display.
Taken together, the oeuvres of these two pioneers of European and American sculpture cover the period of over one hundred years in which modern sculpture developed.
Fondation Beyeler
May 22 to August 21, 2011
www.fondationbeyeler.ch

Published 17.05.2011