After Brancusi 
Bucharest, 4-6 October 2013

International conference of the project

"The Saint of Montparnasse" from Document to Myth. A Century of Constantin Brancusi Exegesis

Organised by G. Oprescu Institute of Art History in partnership with the National University of Arts Bucharest
Coordinator: Dr. Ioana Vlasiu
Venue: UNA Gallery, 10 G-ral Budisteanu str.

ARGUMENT

After having experienced the shock of modernity, sculpture has not held a steady definition. Its status within the contemporary art system is highly divided and challenged today. “What is sculpture?” More than ever, this question does not meet an unequivocal answer. In spite of the seemingly endless process of transformations underwent by sculpture, Constantin Brancusi and his work have continued to rise interest among scholars and to pervade the imagination of artists. The history of sculpture of the 20th century retains Brancusi as one of its leading heroes due to the unforeseen openings that his art production has made available for his posterity.

The Institute of Art History in Bucharest had the honor of receiving in 2008 the donation of the art historian Barbu Brezianu, a distinguished scholar of Brancusi’s work. This donation consists in his art library, centered primarily on 20th century sculpture, more than three hundred documentary files, and a rich correspondence with numerous foreign and Romanian art historians. This valuable archive is being now organized and researched due to a project funded by the National Research Council.

The conference of the project aimed to examine the effects of Brancusi’s work on modern and contemporary sculpture/discourse on sculpture as well as strategies, approaches, debates that underpin its status during the 20th and 21st centuries.

The conference of the project aimed to examine the effects of Brancusi’s work on modern and contemporary sculpture/discourse on sculpture as well as strategies, approaches, debates that underpin its status during the 20th and 21st centuries.

 

Day 1

          Opening speeches:
RĂZVAN THEODORESCU, President of the Section for Arts, Architecture and Audio-Visual of the Romanian Academy, Professor at the National University of Arts, Bucharest
CĂTĂLIN BĂLESCU, Rector of the National University of Arts Bucharest
IOANA VLASIU, Senior Researcher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History, Bucharest

          Panel I
          Chair Doina Lemny

RUXANDRA DEMETRESCU (Professor, National University of Arts, Bucharest):
L'artiste en héros, l'artiste en magicien

ALEXANDRA PARIGORIS (Visiting Research Fellow, University of Leeds):
Debating Brâncuși in Romania

CRISTIAN‐ROBERT VELESCU (Professor, National University of Arts, Bucharest):
Brancusi: deux exemples de l’exégèse de la première heure. Benjamin Fondane et V. G. Paleolog à une nouvelle lecture

VIRGINIA BARBU (Researcher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History):
"Brancusi dans les yeux des autres" – Barbu Brezianu and the Brancusian Studies in the 1970s

          Panel II
          Chair Cristian‐Robert Velescu

DOINA LEMNY (Attachée de conservation, Musée National d’Art Moderne ‐ Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris)
« Chez Rodin, je traîne tous les jours… » Lettre à des amis de Craïova

RUXANDA BELDIMAN (Reseacher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History)
Teaching Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Arts and Crafts in Bucharest at the End of the 19th Century

ADRIANA ȘOTROPA (Maître de conference, Université Michel de Montaigne Bordeaux 3)
Une esthétique de la suggestion: réception critique de l’oeuvre de Brancusi avant 1910

JONATHAN WOOD (Research Curator, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds)
The Studio after Reconstruction: L’Atelier Brancusi as Model

          Panel III
          Chair Ruxandra Demetrescu

ILEANA PINTILIE (Professor, West University, Timișoara)
The Paradigm of the Studio – A Place to Live and Work. Paul Neagu's Studio in London

CORINA TEACĂ (Reseacher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History)
Interpreting Brancusi: Romanian Sculpture 1960‐1989

MAGDA PREDESCU (Archivist, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest)
L’architecture et l’art monumental sur le littoral roumain dans la période communiste. L’expériment Costineşti (1970-1971)

MAGDA RADU (Curator, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Bucharest)
From Body to Sculpture: Contextualizing Early Works of Paul Neagu

Day 2

Short presentation of Barbu Brezianu's Archive at G. Oprescu Institute of Art History, 196 Calea Victoriei.

          Panel IV
          Chair Ileana Pintilie

CRISTIAN NAE (Assistant Professor, G. Enescu University of Arts, Iaşi)
The Peasant and the Grid: Brancusi’s Mythologies of Displacement

OLIVIA NIȚIȘ (Reseacher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History)
The Rhetoric of Space: From the Endless Column of Brancusi to the Inverted Plinth of Rachel Whiteread

ALEXANDRU CALCATINGE (Architect, Teaching Assistant, Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest)
The Sculpture of Brancusi and Modern Architecture

          Panel V
          Chair Ruxanda Beldiman

CHRISTIAN FUHRMEISTER (Research Project Manager, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, München)
War Memorials and Public Sculpture after World War II: Formal and Biographical Continuities and Ruptures

IRINA CĂRĂBAŞ (Assistant Professor, National University of Arts, Bucharest)
Commemoration without Shores. Celebrating Constantin Brancusi in post‐Stalinist Romania

IOANA VLASIU (Senior Researcher, G. Oprescu Institute of Art History)
Public Art in Romania during Carol II’s Dictatorial Reign

Evening program:
Guided tour of Bucharest Monuments. Artist Peter Jacobi has presented his work Holocaust Memorial.

Day 3

Trip to Târgu Jiu.

Copyright © G. Oprescu Institute of Art History, 2013