Column for Flory Photo

Photographer’s Note

Yesterday I posted a photo with the Endless Column by Constantin Brancusi in winter, with snow and fog, showing only the lower part of it. Flory did not really like it, and when I answered her comment I thought of what might be the right context for it.

Sculptures are unlike paintings, they don´t stand for themselves, they need a context. Brancusi, when he designed the column, had forseen a wide path leading across the park directly towards it. In the last renovation of the park and the column this path has disappeared. It had given the entire ensemble a direction, while today it is standing amidst a grass island, and people are uncertain whether or not they are allowed to walk across the grass to get closer to it. Maybe Brancusi had wanted it to be touched, now it´s quite strange to walk towards it.

But what is the right context for a piece of art, for a sculpture? Is it the houses that had been there when the place for the column had been chosen, the trees that grew beside it, the people that see it every day, play, grow up and get old in its presence? The clouds that pass above it and change every second?

The world changes, the column remains. The communists tried to pull it down with a tractor, but the column resisted. Stands there, in its definitive simplicity and beauty, unimpressed. In a poor, underdeveloped, small, forgotten town somewhere in Romania. Strange.

I´ll have to go back and try again.

flory, nemesiss, jorgi has marked this note useful

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flory (4802) 2008-12-09 13:00

draga Johannes,
nici nu stiu cu ce sa incep...
inainte de toate,sper sa nu te superi,dar voi scrie in romana,am observat ca intelegi .nu de alta,dar pana scriu in engleza ceva imbatranim..:)

orice artist in lumea asta,indiferent ca e sculptor,poet,pictor are izvoare de inspiratie..si 'nebunia' artistului.am si subliniat ca Brancusi e dificil de prezentat,fiecare opera a lui Brancusi are greutate.e pamant romanesc.are si Eminescu la un moment dat.nu stiu daca ai citit Eminescu,dau din una in alta...:)
un pionier,asa cum ai mentionat in arta moderna cu viziuni simbolistice.discipolul lui Rodin.

tu spui ca au nevoie de context...hmmm.nu chiar.atunci sculpturile de interior ca Domnisoara Pogany,Cap de copil,Pasarea-unde au 'contextu' ca sa zic asa..?

dragu meu,daca artistii si-ar pune atatea intrebari cate pui...unde e locu potrivit pt o sculptura,in cazu de fata..n-ar mai crea nimic:)
..in a poor,small,forgotten town.nu chiar. e orasu lui Brancusi.din pamantu acela s-a nascut Brancusi si Coloana Infinitului.

nu stiu daca are rost sa incerci din nou.e
asa important?pe mine,una m-ai convins ca-ti pasa..
multumesc pt ca-ti pasa!
Flori:)

nemesiss (2657) 2008-12-09 14:16

Johannes.... NU MAI AM CE ZICE ! Ai atins o coarda sensibila a mea, prin aceasta imagine a unui mare sculptor modern. Dar si zonei unde se afla una din marile lucrari ale acestui sculptor univerasal , zona din care fac si eu parte , prin radacinile parintesti. GORJ !
FELICITARILE MELE SI TOT CE-I MAI BUN PE LUME SA FIE ALATURI DE TINE,
Iulian

jorgi (3798) 2008-12-12 0:46

Hi Johannes,

to answer you question about the right context for a sculpture...It depends on a sculpture. And location.
This exact one...presented as it is now...Not good. Why? Because you are all confused whether to get near or not. If a sculpture is ment to be admired from a distance, it must be positioned as such and leaving no doubt.
You surely now David of Michelangelo...His copy is standing in its original location in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence. When looking at it (or original) you may noticed that his body is not proportional...too big hands, head...short legs. There is a reason for that. In times when the statue was made there was a market in front of the palace and hardly any room for sculptures. So Michelangelo made the statue as it is with knowledge that it could be only seen from the closest distance and from below. So he "corrected" the perspective of the observer with "oversized" upper part of his body. Sorry if I wasted your time saying what you already know but here hides the third important aspect: time. Now there is no market in front of the palace anymore and his copy is "lost" in the vastness of the square.
As the sculpture on your photo. Seeing it from such a distance it looses the infinity notion...it feels like a pencil stuck in a grass. I prefer your winter version much better.

My best,
Jeri