Sleeping Muse I

Object Details

Artist

Constantin Brancusi, French, b. Hobitza, Romania, 1876–1957

Provenance

The Artist, Paris

[Alfred Stieglitz, Gallery "291" Photo-Secession, New York, 1914]

Arthur B. Davies, New York, from c. 1914 to April 1929

American Art Association, New York, Sale, Arthur B. Davies Art Collection, 16-17 April 1929, lot. 447

C. W. Kraushaar, New York, from April 1929

[Mr. Jules Furthman, California ?]

Mrs. Barclay Scull, to 27 December 1961

M. Knoedler & Company, New York, to 2 January 1962

Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York, 2 January 1962-17 May 1966 (in partial exchange for plaster, S.61.78)

Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966

IG 1972; JZ 1976; VJF 1992

Exhibition History

QUAI D'ORSAY, Paris. "Salon des artistes indépendants, 28ème exposition," 20 March-16 May 1912, no. 494 (or no. 617?).

LITTLE GALLERIES OF THE PHOTO-SECESSION, New York. "Constantin Brancusi," 12 March-1 April 1914, no. 1 (exhibited without base or socle, lying pedestal with another work).

RITZ-CARLTON HOTEL, New York. "Allies of Sculpture," 5-25 December 1917, no. 26.

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, New York. "Modern Sculpture from the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection," 3 October 1962-6 January 1963, no. 39, ill. p. 54.

MUNSON-WILLIAMS-PROCTOR INSTITUTE, Utica, New York. "1913 Armory Show: 50th Anniversary Exhibition," 17 February-31 March 1963, no. 617, ill. p. 41. Tour: SIXTY-NINTH INFANTRY ARMORY, New York, 6-28 April.

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "Inaugural Exhibition," 4 October 1974-15 September 1975, ill. 197, p. 152; pp. 668-669.

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "Direct Carving in Modern Sculpture: Selections from the Museum's Collection," 6 October-27 November 1983, no. 2, ill. pamphlet cover.

CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris. "Constantin Brancusi, 1876-1957," 14 April-21 August 1995, no. 15, colorpl. no. 103. Tour: PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, 8 October-31 December.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART, Washington DC. "Alfred Stieglitz and Modern Art in America," 28 January-22 April 2001.

TATE MODERN, London. "The Essence of Things," 29 January-23 May 2004, no. 20, p. 98. Tour: SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, New York, 10 June-19 September.

HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "Masterworks from the Hirshhorn Collection," 9 June 2016-6 August 2017, no cat.

Published References

NOTE: Brancusi's own photograph of the bronze Muse (Musée national d'art moderne in Paris) has often been published as our marble, see Comparatives. That bronze rests on a base.

STIEGLITZ COLLECTION, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Two installation photographs by Alfred Stieglitz of the Brancusi Exhibition at the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, New York, 12 March-1 April 1914.

MCBRIDE, HENRY. "Brancusi," Sun (22 March 1914).

DAVIES, ARTHUR B. Letter to William Macbeth, undated (c. 1915), Macbeth Galleries Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, microfilm roll no. NMc37, frames 1007-1008.

UNSIGNED. "Exhibition 'Arrangements' at '292,'" Camera Work 48 (October 1916), pl. II.

UNSIGNED. "Allies of Sculpture Exhibition," American Art News (8 December 1917), p. 2.

M.M. "Constantin Brancusi," Arts 4, no. 1 (July 1923), p. 15 (photograph by Charles Sheeler).

BELL, CLIVE. "The Art of Brancusi," Vogue 67 (1 June 1926), p. 82, ill. (The text describes it as marble but uses Brancusi's photograph which is published later as the bronze in MNAM, Paris.)

UNSIGNED. "Complete Prices of Davies Sale," Art News (29 April 1929), p. 21, no. 447 (as marble head sold for $800 to C. Kraushaar).

UNSIGNED. "Davies Sale, $7,223," Art Digest 3 (April 1929), p. 12 (as marble head sold for $800 to C. Kraushaar).

FRANK, WALDO, ed. America and Alfred Stieglitz: A Collective Portrait (New York: Literary Guild, 1934), ill. (Stieglitz photograph of 1914).

GIEDION-WELCKER, CAROLA. "Brancusi," Horizon 11 (London, 1949), ill. (listed as marble but using photograph of bronze).

GUÉGUEN, PIERRE. "La Sculpture Cubiste," L'Art d'aujourd'hui série 34, no. 4 (June 1953), pp. 50-51, ill. p. 52 (photograph of bronze).

GIEDION-WELCKER, CAROLA. Maria Jolas and Anne Leroy, trans. Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957 (New York: Braziller, 1959), ill. p. 59 (listed as marble from Davies collection, but uses early photograph of MNAM, Paris bronze).

GUÉGUEN, PIERRE. "Le nouveau colloque avec Lipchitz," XXe Siècle, no. 13 (Noël 1959), n.p.

GIEDION-WELCKER, CAROLA. Contemporary Sculpture, 3rd rev. ed. (New York: Wittenborn, 1960), p. 125, ill. (same as 1959 Brancusi book?).

KAUFMAN, BETTY. "Hirshhorn: The Collector's Art," Commonweal 77 (9 November 1962), p. 182.

JIANOU, IONEL. Brancusi (New York: Tudor, 1963), p. 93.

CUBANNE, PIERRE. L'épopée du cubisme (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1963), p. 73 (cites Guéguen).

CANADAY, JOHN. "The Rodin Revolution," New York Times (9 June 1963), ill. p. 37.

MICHELSON, ANNETTE. "Private But Public: The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Collection," Contemporary Sculpture Arts Yearbook 8 (New York, 1965), ill. p. 184.

PETRU COMARNESCO, MIRCEA ELIADE, and IONEL JIANOU. Témoinages sur Brancusi (Paris: Arted, Editions d'art, 1967), p. 59.

ARNASON, H. HARVARD. History of Modern Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1968), p. 138, ill. p. 136.

GEIST, SIDNEY. Brancusi, A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Grossman, 1968), no. 56, pp. 34-35, 218, ill.

UNSIGNED. Constantin Brancusi 1876-1957: A Retrospective Exhibition (New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1969), pp. 21, 44, ill. p. 21, 45.

JACOBS, JAY. "Collector: Joseph H. Hirshhorn," Art in America 57 (July-August 1969), ill. p. 71.

SPEAR, ATHENA TACHA. "A Contribution to Brancusi Chronology," Art Bulletin 48 (March 1970), pp. 46-47, 53.

JACOBS, JAY. "Quality as Well as Quantity: Joseph H. Hirshhorn," in Lipman, Jean, ed. The Collector in America (New York: Viking, 1971), ill. p. 81.

CHRISTIE, MANSON & WOODS, London. Sale, "Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture," 27 June 1972, p. 64.

HUNTER, SAM. American Art of the Twentieth Century (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1972), ill. p. 143.

LERNER, ABRAM, et al. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974), ill. p. 197; pp. 152; 668-669.

GORDON, DONALD. Modern Art Exhibtions vol. 2 (Munich: Prestel Verlag, 1974), pp. 559, 810.

TUCKER, WILLIAM. Early Modern Sculpture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1974), ill. p. 48.

GEIST, SIDNEY. "Brancusi, the Meyers, and the Portrait of Mrs. Eugene Meyer, Jr.," Studies in Art History 6 (Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1974), pp. 190, 204.

UNSIGNED. New York Graphic Society The Art Gallery (October/November 1975), ill. p. 138 (adv.).

UNSIGNED. Artforum 14 (November 1975), ill. p. 26 (adv.).

COURTHION, PIERRE. "Le plus grande musée du monde: La Collection Hirshhorn," XXe Siècle 45 (December 1975), p. 31.

BUTLER, RUTH. Western Sculpture: Definitions of Man (Boston: New York Graphic Society, 1975), p. 238, fig. 137.

GEIST SIDNEY. Brancusi: The Sculpture and the Drawings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975), cat no. 71, ill. p. 56, pp. 166, 177.

MCBRIDE, HENRY. The Flow of Art (New York: Atheneum, 1975), p. 56.

PREBLE, DUANE. We Create Art Creates Us (San Francisco: Canfield Press, 1976), p. 280, fig. 238.

TRIER, EDUARD. "Plastick," in Giulio Carlo Argon Die Kunst der 20. Jahrhunderts, 1880-1940 (Berlin: Propyläen, 1977), p. 298, no. 250.

KIRSH, ANDREA. Arthur B. Davies, Artist and Collector (Rockland, New York: Rockland Center for the Arts and the Edward Hopper Landmark Preservation Foundation, 1977), no. 57, ill.

MAUR, KARIN V. Oscar Schlemmer (Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1979), p. 45, fig. 33.

HYAMS, BARRY. Hirshhorn: Medici from Brooklyn (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979), p. 79.

SELZ, PETER. Art in Our Times: A Pictorial History, 1890-1980 (New York: Harry N. Abrams and Harcourt Brace Janovich, 1981), p. 85, fig. 189.

LONGMAN, ROBIN, ed. "People, Places & Events," American Artist (October 1983), p. 6, no. 4.

PARK, EDWARDS. Treasures from the Smithsonian (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1983), ill.

WEBER, EVA. Art Deco in North America (London: Bison Books, 1985), no. 13, ill.

ARNASON, H. HARVARD. History of Modern Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1986), ill. p.139; p. 195.

RADU, VARIA. Brancusi (New York: Rizzoli, 1986), p. 136, ill.

ZILCZER, JUDITH. "Arthur B. Davies: The Artist as Patron," American Art Journal 19, no. 3 (1987), p. 74, fig. 21.

BACH, FRIEDRICH TEJA. Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plastischer Form (Cologne: Dumont Buchverlag, 1987), pp. 472-473, no. 98, ill.

PREBLE, DUANE and SARAH. Artforms (New York: Harper & Row, n.d.), p. 374, no. 483.

WHITECHAPEL ART GALLERY. Richard Deacon (London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1988), p. 14, ill.

CHRISTIE'S, New York. Sale, "Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture (Part I)," (14 November 1989), ref. in description for lot 64.

KENNELLY, ELEANOR and VICTOR GAETAN. "Grand Exhibit for Grand Sculptor," Washington Times (10 December 1995), p. D1, ill.

LEVINE, SHERRIE. New Born (Japan: Tankosha, 1995), no. 7, fig. p. 18.

MILLER, SANDA. Constantin Brancusi, A Survey of His Work, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), no. 74, ill. p. 118.

REESE, NICHOLAS. Washington (London: Studio Editions, 1995), Art in Focus Series, p. 43, ill.

UNSIGNED. Art, Architecture Design (MIT Press, 1995), ill.

MCALLISTER, JANE, ed. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: 150 Works of Art (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1996), ill. p. 22.

[CHRISTIE'S, New York. Sale, "Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture" (Part I), (14 May 1997), p. 116, possible reference to HMSG's Sleeping Muse.]

CHRISTIE'S, New York. Sale, "Impressionist and Modern Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture" (Part I), (11 November 1997), p. 140, referred in description, no. 3, fig. p. 141.

KING, CHARLES. "Gateways to Romanian Culture and History," program book for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 1999 (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1999), p. 38, ill.

UNSIGNED. "Actualites: Grand-Bretagne--Brancusi, un art essentiel," Connaissance des Arts (February 2004), p. 27.

BARSON, TANYA, ed. Georgia O'Keeffe (London: Tate Publishing, 2016), fig. 43, p. 53.

Credit Line

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1966

1909-1910

Accession Number

66.610

Type

Sculpture

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

6 3/4 × 10 7/8 × 8 3/8 in. (17.2 × 27.6 × 21.2 cm)

See more items in

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

School

European Modernism (Early 20th century)

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Record ID

hmsg_66.610

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/py251dd9189-0684-412e-ac43-018143001a7b