Constantin Brancusi French, born Romania, 1876–1957
About this artwork
Upon arriving in Paris from Romania in 1904, Constantin Brancusi quickly rejected the prevailing theatricality and narrative detail of master sculptor Auguste Rodin. Instead of modeling in clay, and inspired by non-Western art, he began to carve directly into stone, the material chosen for his first version of Sleeping Muse. Further reducing and abbreviating form, Brancusi revised some works by casting them in metal with a fine finish. Such sculptures as this version of Sleeping Muse are self-sufficient, archetypal modern forms.
Constantine [sic] Brancusi (New York: Gallery of the Photo-Secession, 1914), n.p. (cat. 4,) as Sleeping Muse.
Eddy, Arthur Jerome, Cubists and Post Impressionism (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1914), pp. 182–83, as Sleeping Muse.
Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1922), n.p. (cat. 8), as Sleeping Muse.
Rich, Daniel Catton, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture exh. cat. (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1931), pp. 28 (cat. 21), 30, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., Cubism and Abstract Art exh. cat. (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1936), p. 205 (cat. 16), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Siple, Walter H., Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913 exh. cat. (Cincinnati: Cincinnati Art Museum, 1944), n.p. (cat. 3), as Sleeping Muse.
St. Louis Art Museum Bulletin, no. 4 (1961).
Jianou, Ionel, Brancusi (New York: Tudor Publishing Co., 1963), pp. 93 (no. VII), 143 (ill., fig. 25), as Sleeping Muse (VII), 1910.
de Micheli, Mario, Constantin Brancusi (Milan, 1966), pl. 1 (ill.).
Spear, Athena Tacha, “A Contribution to Brancusi Chronology,” The Art Bulletin, 48, 1 (March 1966), pp. 47, 53 (cat. 34c), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Spear, Athena Tacha, “Letters to the Editor,” The Art Bulletin, 48, nos. 3/4 (September–December, 1966), p. 465 (cat. 34c), as Sleeping Muse.
Fabbri, Dino, Con I maestri del colore: La più grande collana d’arte del mondo (Milan: Fratelli Fabbri Editori, 1967), n.p. (ill., pl. I), as La musa addormentata, 1910.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Grossman Publishers, 1968), pp. 35 (ill.), 218 (cat. 57a), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Geist, Sidney, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition exh. cat. (New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1969), pp. 44 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Brezianu, Barbu, and Elena Cumpanasu, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957 exh. cat. (Bucharest: Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, 1970), pp. 34, 94 (ill.), 95 (cat. 20), as Muza Adormita, 1910.
Gemeentemuseum, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957 exh. cat. (The Hague: Gemeentemuseum, 1970), pp. 50 (cat. 11), 81 (ill.), as Slapende muze, 1910.
Tucker, William, “Four Sculptors (part I): Brancusi,” Studio International, 179, 921 (April 1970), p. 158–159 (ill., fig. 6), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Spear, Athena T., “Exhibition Review: Constantin Brancusi,” The Art Quarterly XXXIV, 2 (1971), pp. 238-240, as Sleeping Muse.
Oprea, Petre, C. Brancusi (Bucharest: Muzeul de Arta al Republicii Socialiste România, 1972), n.p. (ill.), as Muza Adormita / Muse endormie / Sleeping Muse.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: The Sculpture and Drawings (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1975), pp. 57 (ill.), 177–8 (cat. 72b), 195, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Brancusi, Constantin, Omagiu lui Brancusi (Sibiu: Rivista Tribuna, 1976), n.p. (ill.), as Muza Adormita.
Paleolog, V. G., Brancusi–Brancusi vol. 1 (Craiova: Scrisul Romanesc, 1976), pp. 56 (ill., fig. 29), as Muza Adormita.
Grigorescu, Dan, Brancusi (Bucharest: Editura Meridiane, 1980), n.p. (ill., fig. 29), Muza adormita, 1910.
Geist, Sidney, Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1983), pp. 35 (ill.), 218 (cat. 57a), 258 (cat. 72b), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Jianu, Ionel, Constantin Brancusi: Viata si opera (Bucharest: Editura stiintifica si enciclopedica, 1983), n.p. (ill., fig. 23), as Muza Adormita, 1910.
Hulten, Pontus, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati, Brancusi (Paris: Flammarion, 1986), p. 284 (cat. 62b), as La Muse endormie I, 1910.
Bach, Friedrich Teja, Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plasticher Form (Cologne: Dumont Buchverlag, 1987), pp. 338 (ill., fig. 368), 430 (ill., cat. 99b), as Schlummernde Muse (La Muse endormie), 1910.
Osgood, Charles, “Chicago Arts: Musing,” The Chicago Tribune (Sunday, June 14, 1987), p. 28 (ill.), as Muse, 1910.
Andreotti, Margherita, “Brancusi’s Golden Bird: A New Species of Modern Sculpture,” Museum Studies 19, 2 (1993), p. 198 (n. 1), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Voltz-Locher, Christa, Constantin Brancusi (Kultur Verlag/Austria, 1994).
Rowell, Margit, Friedrich Teja Bach, and Ann Temkin, Constantin Brancusi: 1876–1957 exh. cat. (Paris: Gallimard/Centre Georges Pompidou, 1995), p. 105 (cat. 17, ill.), as Muse endormie, 1910.
Silber, Evelyn, Gaudier-Brzeska: Life and Art (New York: Thames and Hudson Limited, 1996), pp. 124, 125 (ill., fig. 93), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Wood, James N. and Teri J. Edelstein, The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), pp. 23 (ill.), 158, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Wood, James N. and Debra N. Mancoff, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2000), p. 243 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
London, Allied Artists Association, Royal Albert Hall, Sixth London Salon, July 1913, cat. 1167.
New York, Gallery of the Photo-Secession, Constantine [sic] Brancusi, March 12–April 1, 1914, n.p., (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse.
Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection, September 19–October 22, 1922, n.p. (cat. 8), as Sleeping Muse.
Art Institute of Chicago, Arthur Jerome Eddy Collection of Modern Paintings and Sculpture, December 22, 1931–January 17, 1932, p. 28 (cat. 21), 30, as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Chicago, Renaissance Society, A Selection of Works by Twentieth-Century Artists, June 20–August 20, 1934, n.p. (cat. 4), as Sleeping Muse, 1909.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Cubism and Abstract Art, March 2–April 19, 1936, p. 205 (cat. 16), as Sleeping Muse, 1910.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Pictures for Peace: A Retrospective Exhibition Organized from the Armory Show of 1913, March 18–April 16, 1944, n.p. (cat. 3), as Sleeping Muse.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (organizer), Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition, p. 44 (ill.), as Sleeping Muse, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 23–November 15, 1969; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 21, 1969–February 15, 1970; Art Institute of Chicago, March 14–April 26, 1970.
Bucharest, Museum of Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957, June 1970, pp. 34, 94 (ill.), 95 (cat. 20), as Muza Adormita, 1910; traveled to The Hague, Gemeentemuseum, September 19–November 29, 1970, pp. 50 (cat. 11), 81 (ill.), as Slapende muze, 1910.
Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Constantin Brancusi, April 11–August 21, 1995, p. 105 (cat. 17, ill), as Muse endormie, 1910; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, October 8–December 31, 1995.
Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, The Age of Picasso and Matisse: Modern Masters from the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 6, 2013–Feb. 16, 2014, no cat. no.
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray - Framing Sculpture, Feb. 8, 2014– May 25, 2014.
Arthur Jerome Eddy (1859–1920), Chicago by 1914 [Eddy 1914]; by descent to his wife Lucy O. Eddy (1863-1931) and son Jerome O. Eddy (1891-1951), Chicago, 1920; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1931.
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