ARTIST'S JOURNEY: TONY CRAGG ON CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI (TV)
Summary
One in this miniseries in which contemporary artists explore the lives and works of artists of the past. In this program, sculptor Tony Cragg probes the life and art of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncusi. Cragg, originally trained in science and specializing in works made from discarded objects, travels to Romania to investigate Brâncusi's early life. He examines several of his works, including "The Kiss," "Mademoiselle Pogany III" and "Prometheus," noting that Brâncusi was one of the pioneers of "nonrepresentational" modern art. He observes that Brâncusi is featured on Romanian currency, wondering why the Communist country would respond to the artist's conflicting, "eternal" ideology. After examining another early work, "The Blind Boy" and comparing it to Rodin's style, he states that more abstract pieces like "The Kiss" denote a "change of mental state." Cragg goes first to Brâncusi's birthplace of Hobita, examining the small village and explaining that he was bullied in his youth by his brothers and father, often escaping to the tranquility of the woods near his home. Cragg shares that he too grew up in a "desolate" town and found solace in nature, and he then compares their studios, explaining that he prefers to be surrounded by random objects, which he incorporates into his work.
Cragg examines photos of Brâncusi's studio taken at varying times of the day, and comments on his self-promoted "shepherd" persona. He explains how Brâncusi was "impressed by" the religious traditions of his country, wondering what prompted him to finally leave. A man from Hobita discusses the changes in the residents' lives since the revolution, and Cragg explains how Brâncusi "put the spirit back into" the wood that he used for his art, which had previously only been used for utilitarian purposes. In his own works, including "Short Wood Memory," Cragg examines the contrast people natural and manmade objects, commenting on the Greeks' love for natural materials and the Pagan symbolism found in Brâncusi's work. Tradesmen from his town typically became "journeymen" and traveled to other lands for inspiration; Brâncusi himself walked to Paris in 1904 and was inspired by the scientific developments found there, including the Air Show of 1912. His works, like "Bird in Space," incorporated symbolic imagery of flight, though Cragg insists that Brâncusi was not an "intellectual." He remained in Paris for the next fifty years, though when he traveled to New York, he commented that the city was reminiscent of his studio on a large scale. Cragg discusses Brâncusi's mixed feelings about traveling back to Romania, wanting to return a "national hero" while maintaining his "peasant" role as well. Cragg then goes to Târgu Jiu, where Brâncusi's commissioned WWI monument is housed, and explores its different pieces: "The Table of Silence," "The Gate of the Kiss" and "The Endless Column," which he explains is religious without being reliant on the Church, coming instead "straight from his heart." Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: BBC2 (United Kingdom)
- DATE: June 28, 1992
- RUNNING TIME: 0:40:23
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:40024
- GENRE: Documentary
- SUBJECT HEADING: International Collection - United Kingdom; Documentary; Art
- SERIES RUN: BBC2 - TV series, 1992
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Keith Alexander … Executive Producer
- Bruno Wollheim … Producer
- Christopher Swayne … Director
- Tony Cragg … Host
- Constantin Brâncusi
- Auguste Rodin