Sidney Geist

I first read this book in about 1975 in New Zealand.....borrowed it from the Lower Hutt Library where I spent many a pleasant Saturday morning with the kids. And was so impressed that I've looked long and hard for a copy of the book ever since. Finally found a copy and I've kind of re-read it ,,,,well maybe not every word....but still mightily impressed. Sidney Geist is just so knowledgeable and so thorough and just knows his subject so well. I've also read one of his other books on Brancusi ....."The Kiss" which covers the development and evolution of Brancusi's famous sculptures of the kiss. One of the things that has stayed with me for the last 50 years is Geist's diagram of the sculpture "The Seal" which shows how the truncated "face" of the seal is carefully calculated and the alternative outlines of the head would just not work as well. Impossible to see this, I think, without Geist's insight.
He has also visited Brancusi's homeland in Romania and seen some of the local influences there own Brancusi's later work. ...plus the endless column and some other works ........ all of which gives context to the sculpture. I was blown away by the reconstruction of Brancusi's Atelier in the Pompidou Centre ....it looks so real ...just like Brancusi just walked out on it......though, perhaps the sculptures might not have been so artfully arranged there in that case.
Geist's book is really a rather carefully constructed biography of the man..as seen through his sculptures ...but also in letters and contemporary comment. I especially liked the letters from Madam Pogorny who apparently actually liked her sculpture very much. She probably didn't realise how famous she would become despite the negative reactions to it at the time.
For me, this is a great work of biography and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Apart from that there are so many photographs and one can trace the development of many of Brancusi's ideas...especially the bird/s in Space from his earlier works.....The elongation and the increasing abstraction. Geist has so many insights. Easily worth 5 stars.… (mehr)