Mlle Pogany

Item

Title: Mlle Pogany; Brancusi, Constantin, 1876-1957. Sculptures. Selections
Description: This sculpture is a portrait of Margit Pogany, a Hungarian artist who sat for Brancusi several times in 1910 and 1911 while she was in Paris studying painting. Shortly after her return to Hungary, Brancusi carved a marble Mlle Pogany from memory, then made a plaster mold of the work, from which he cast four additional versions, including this one, in bronze. In representing its subject through highly stylized and simplified forms, the work was a significant departure from conventional portraiture. Large almond-shaped eyes overwhelm the oval face, and a black patina represents the hair that covers the top of the head and extends over the elaborate chignon at the nape of the neck. As with other motifs, this was a subject Brancusi would return to and rework in the years to come.
Type: Abstract Surrealist
Subject: Sculpture
Creator: Brancusi, Constantin
Date Created: 1913
Medium: Bronze with black patina on limestone base; bronze (metal); verdigris (patina); limestone
Extent: 17 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 12 1/2" (43.8 x 21.5 x 31.7cm)

Other (bronze):
17 1/4 × 8 1/2 × 12 1/2" (43.8 × 21.6 × 31.8 cm)
Limestone base:
5 3/4 × 6 1/8 × 7 3/8"(14.6 × 15.6 × 18.7 cm)

Weight: 40 lb. (18.1 kg); inches
Coverage: Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.) MoMA (New York, N.Y.)
Rights: © Succession Brancusi - All rights reserved (ARS) 2018
Identifier: Bio_Sculpt002_CB_MllePogany_01Front
Source: MoMA official website