Dessins

- s.d. (ca 1937), 9x12,9cm, un dessin. - Eva, original drawing signed [ca 1937] | 9 x 12,9 cm | one drawing Original drawing signed by Constantin Brâncu?i in brown ink on cream paper, from the collection of Ion Alexandrescu, a stone mason who worked with the sculptor in 1937-1938 on the creation and installation of the monumental ensemble at Târgu Jiu, and more specifically on The Door of the Kiss and The Table of Silence. Brâncu?i's preparatory drawings for his sculptures are extremely rare, as opposed to most of the few drawings by the artist seen on auctions, which are mainly figurative (women and anatomical studies). We submitted this unpublished work to renowned Brâncu?i specialist Dr Doïna Lemny who authenticated and dated it with precision. As an honorary curator of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Georges-Pompidou in Paris where she was in charge of the Brâncu?i collection for thirty years, she is the author of numerous monographs and essays on the artist. She provided the drawing's analysis: "This small drawing traced in ink with a quick hand on small paper calls out by the novelty of the composition of geometric forms: two superimposed cubes supporting an oval head framed in a square acquire a caryatid posture supporting an architrave, clearly drawn at the top of the figure. The quick, firm line indicates the artist's intention to note elements for a more complex composition that he would have intended to make." Although undated, this drawing can be related to two other similar compositions made on 3 November 1937. The first, of the same size (9 x 13 cm), bears the title "Eva" and is enriched on the reverse with a drawing of the Kiss and a message addressed to Ion Alexandrescu. The second is larger (22 x 32 cm) and has the same composition as our drawing, but with proportions that more explicitly evoke a female figure (see opposite). In these two other drawings, Brâncu?i indicates the materials he plans to use for this future set of sculptures: wood (in Romanian: lemn) and plaster (gips). The drawing we offer is untitled and does not bear indications regarding the materials, but is in coherent with the tangible research of the other two compositions, and could be a stylisation of the original drawing for a more abstract sculpture project. The interest in this biblical female figure crossed Brâncu?i's artistic career. As early as 1916, he sculpted a curvaceous, Africanising wooden figure to which he gave the title "Ève". Reworking it, he finally created a more totemic sculpture in 1921: Adam and Eva. As a "constructed" work, Adam and Eve already announced Brâncu?i's intention to take up the theme of the original woman, mother and protector, who is here pruned of male attributes and made into an elevation of primary and matrix forms: the block, the egg and the surface. Provenance: collection of the stone mason Ion Alexandrescu, friend and close collaborator of the Romanian sculptor. [FRENCH VERSION FOLLOWS] Dessin original signé de Constantin Brancusi à l'encre brune sur papier crème, provenant de la collection d'Ion Alexandrescu, tailleur de pierre ayant été le collaborateur du sculpteur en 1937-1938, pour la réalisation et l'installation de l'ensemble monumental de Târgu Jiu, plus particulièrement pour La Porte du Baiser et La Table du silence. Les rares dessins passés en vente sont essentiellement figuratifs (femmes et études anatomiques), mais les travaux préparatoires à ses sculptures sont d'une excessive rareté. Nous avons soumis au docteur Doïna Lemny, conservatrice honoraire du Musée National d'Art Moderne où elle eut la charge du fonds Brâncu?i durant trente années, et autrice de nombreuses monographies et essais sur l'artiste, cette œuvre inédite qu'elle a pu authentifier et dater avec précision : « Ce petit dessin tracé à l'encre d'une main rapide sur un papier de petites dimensions interpelle par la nouveauté de la composition de formes géométriques : deux cubes superposés supportant une