Brancusi - The Kiss

• Height

  32.4 cm
• Medium: Limestone
• Critical quote

  The breakthrough for Brancusi came when he realised he wanted to be the opposite of Rodin. He wanted to be fully responsible for the final form of his work and how it sat in space, and his strength – unlike the additive modeller – was as a carver – Antony Gormley
• Visual analysis

  • Limestone, height 32.4 cm

  • abstracted but with recognisable elements, two embracing figures, eyes/arms/hair/lips/schematically indicated.

  ● Figures are not individualised but rather generalised and universalised. Gender ambiguous – timeless.

  ● Severely simplified and primitive – intimate, compressed closeness, however not sensuous or erotic.
• Qualities of stone

  Qualities of Stone

  • Sense of mass/weight/solidity/stability

  • Low tensile material – no daring projections

  • Surface textures of stone undisguised – no illusionistic treatment
• Qualities of stone

  • Direct carving created solid and simple forms and were an authentic expression of creativity - direct carving associated with honesty of materials and the integrity of artistic expression - also the technique practiced by many ‘primitive’ sculptors.

  • Rectangular form of original block of stone preserved as lines are simply incised– the figures are as one in a compact single unit – almost symmetrical.

  • Suggestions of ancient figures.

  • Associations have been made between the surface and the natural environment – erosion over time.

  • Natural material
• Figures clasp each other and are each defined only by the single incised line that separates the two, without which they could almost be read as a single figure.
• The use of limestone in "The Kiss" adds weight and stability to the piece, emphasizing its solidity and permanence.
• The female figure is ever so slightly thinner than he is. Her eye is slightly smaller, but the eyes also join together to create a single, almost cyclopean eye in the middle of the forehead. The mouths, which are lips reaching to each other, are here singular.
• Brancusi's work was influenced by his interest in Eastern philosophy and spirituality, particularly Taoism and Zen Buddhism. He believed that art should strive towards simplicity and purity, reflecting the essence of nature and human experience.