It is well-known that some of the earliest supporters of Brâncuși's work were photographers. His first one-man exhibition at Stieglitz’s Photo-Secession Gallery in New York in 1914 was coordinated by Edward Steichen, a willing and able liaison between Paris and New York. Brâncuși's earliest photographs of his sculpture were taken around 1905, and by the 1920s a full-fledged documentation began. Printed in a makeshift darkroom built by Brâncuși in the corner of his studio, the prints all bear distinct marks of their maker. Brâncuși's photographs are a portal to see through the great master’s own eyes, to imbibe his vision, his love and care for his totemic work and the womb-like studio space where he labored to create them.
The original owner of this photograph of the bronze sculpture, Golden Bird, was famed poet, playwright, novelist, artist and actress, Mina Loy. Loy's daughter, Joella Haweis, who inherited the work, herself a noted member of the avant-garde art community. Haweis was married to the prominent art dealer, Julien Levy, when he founded his revered Surrealism and photography-focused gallery in 1931. Following their divorce in 1942, Haweis married fellow Bauhaus artist Herbert Bayer in 1944. Later, the San Francisco Bay area-based author, art conservator, curator and artist Richard Lorenz came to own this work.
Provenance
The Collection of Mina Loy (1882–1966)by descent to Joella Bayer, daughter of the above (1906–1981)
Richard Lorenz (1952–2001)
Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, California
Literature
This Quarter, 1/1, Spring 1925, Paris, ill. plate 27
Europa Almanach, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Potsdam, 1925, repr. page 56
Paul Morand, “Brancusi”, The Brummer Gallery, New York 1926, Chicago 1927, No.20, ill.
V.G. Paleolog, Brancusi, Bucharest, Ed. Forum, 1947, repr.
V.G. Paleolog, Arcades, January-March 1947, repr. page 44
Robert Payne, Constantin Brancusi, World Review, London, October, 1949
Athena T. Spear, Brancusi’s Birds, New York University Press, 1969, repr. plate 13
Pontus Hilton, Natalia Dumitresco, Alexandre Istrati, “Brancusi”, Paris, Flammarion, 1986,
repr. page 294
F.T. Bach, Constantin Brancusi. Metamorphosen plastischer Form, DuMont Verlag, Cologne, 1987, repr. page 158
Brancusi, Connaissance des Arts, HC, Paris, 1995, repr. page 44
L’Oiseau dans l’espace, Les carnets de l’Atelier Brancusi, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2001, No,101, repr. page 101
Paola Mola, Brancusi the White Work, Skira, Guggenheim Venice, 2005, nr. 66 repr. page 113
Pierre Cabanne, Brancusi, Editions Terrail, Paris, 2006, repr. page 91
Doïna Lemny, Brancusi : Au-delà de toutes les frontières, Fage Editions, Lyon, 2012,
repr. page 47
Brancusi, Rosso, Man Ray, Framing Sculptur, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2014, ill. page 160 (467C)
Friedrich Teja Bach, Brancusi: Photo Reflexion, Didier Imbert Fine Art, Paris, 1991, ill. 4, p. 12.