Brancusi in Japan: the Romanian sculptor is showcasted for the first time in Japan

With a Paris exhibition ongoing which is the talk of the world, some of Constantin Brancusi’s masterpieces are also on display in Japan, as a national premiere for this country, in an exhibition entitled „Carving the Essence”.

This unprecedented exhibition at a Japanese art museum now comprehensively presents Brancusi’s oeuvre at Artizon Museum from Tokyo. Central to this exhibition are more than twenty sculptures sourced from the Brancusi Estate and various museums worldwide.

Alongside these masterpieces, the exhibition integrates Brancusi’s two-dimensional works, including frescoes, tempera paintings, drawings, and photographs, showcasing the full spectrum of his artistic endeavors.

According to the official presentation, this exhibition presents work by Brancusi from his early period, when he retained the influence of academic realism and Rodin, to the 1910s, when he reduced the forms of his subjects to their essence, and then the period from 1920 on when he made his subjects increasingly abstract, as in Bird.

The display, featuring approximately ninety pieces, offers a holistic insight into the creative genius of Brancusi, marking a significant first in Japan’s engagement with the artist’s legacy. The exhibition is on display up until July 7, 2024 and more details are available here.

The Japanese connections of Constantin Brancusi

At the beginning of his career, Japanese-American art student Isamu Noguchi saw the now-controversial Brancusi’s 1926 show at the avant-garde Brummer Gallery, got impressed and obtained a Guggenheim Fellowship that allowed him to work as Brancusi’s studio assistant in Paris, notes Artsy.net, the international art platform.

“Great good fortune such as this has something of the divine and inevitable,” Noguchi said of his introduction to Brancusi. The two artists’ influence was reciprocal and deep, adds the same platform.

On the other hand, ArtNews.com mentions that in Hayden Herrera’s 2015 biography Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi, painter Andrée Ruellen, a companion of Noguchi’s at the time, recalled, “He seemed to be attached to everything about Brancusi. He even wore Romanian wooden shoes like Brancusi did. And he talked over and over about how Brancusi lived for nothing but work. I can’t say that in our circle Isamu attracted special attention for his talent. But I thought that he had a wonderful sense of beauty.”