„Create like a God, command like a king, work like a slave”
Sculptor Constantin Brancusi (Romanian, born February 19, 1876 – died March 6, 1957) is best known for the uniquely reductive, Modernist visual vocabulary he used in sculptures to depict a wide variety of subjects, such as fish, birds, and couples kissing. Born in Hobita, Romania, Brancusi studied art in his native country as a youth, before leaving for Paris in 1904 to continue his education at the École des Beaux-Arts. There he was invited to work with famed sculptor Auguste Rodin, but declined the offer and decided to work on his own, preferring to use the most reduced forms possible in his sculptures, as opposed to the overtly worked exteriors of Rodin’s pieces.