19 February: Brâncuşi Day

19 February, “Brâncuşi Day”, is celebrated by the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) to mark the 142th anniversary from the birth of the internationally renowned Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer Constantin Brâncuşi (February 19, 1876 - March 16,1957).

On 19 February at 18.00hrs, ICR organizes - at its headquarters in Bucharest, Aleea Alexandru 38 - the event entitled "Brâncuşi - Duchamp - Marthe, in the privacy of the Impasse Rodin workshop".

On this occasion, two books will be released, courtesy of Doina Lemny (PhD in Art History, a Museum-Researcher at the National Museum of Modern Art, Pompidou Center in Paris). One of them brings together the correspondence between Constantin Brâncuşi and Marcel Duchamp, revealing the friendship - unknown for a long time - between the two great artists.

Second book, entitled "Brâncuşi and Marthe - or the love story between Tantan and Tonton" brings to the public attention the correspondence between Brâncuşi and Swiss dancer Marthe Lebherz, one of the artist's great love. The letters, sent from New York in 1926, have lots of drawings on the theme of the Kiss. Brâncuşi reunited them and numbered them, with the intention of publishing them as a love novel.

ICR’s books’ release will be followed by a debate between Editor Doina Lemny and the art historian Robert Velescu. The evening will end with Isvor Brâncuşi concert, performed by Imago Mundi ensemble.

City of Târgu-Jiu (place of Brâncuşi’s monumental Ensemble) hosts, on 19 February, a colloquium on "Brâncuşi Ensemble in the context of the Centenary. Between the past and the future", organized by the Research, Documentation and Promotion Center Constantin Brâncuşi, in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Constantin Brâncuși, considered “the father of the modern sculpture”, was born on February 19, 1876 in Hobița, Gorj County.

February 19 was declared “Brâncuși Day” in 2015.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei