mheu, Historical Museum of the Urban Environment

The artist

Born in Romania in 1876, Constantin Brancusi began training as a sculptor at 18. A student at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts, he then traveled across Europe to Munich and later Paris, where he was accepted at the School of Fine Arts. The exhibit of his works at the Autumn Salon caught the attention of Auguste Rodin. Yet Brancusi quickly passed on the opportunity to become one of the great man's assistants, believing that "Nothing grows in the shade of a tall tree." Despite the hardships and doubts, the young sculptor preferred to embark on a personal body of work, deeply inspired by the non-European civilizations that fascinated him. While working as a sculptor, he produced until his death in 1957 more than 2,000 photographs, whose subjects included his sculptures and his workshop as well as self-portraits, making up a complete body of work.