The Case of Constantin Brancusi vs. the
How the case came to court
When I
brought Brancusi’s sculpture “Bird in space” back
home with me to the
and refused me the regular tax
exemption allocated to works
of art. The sculpture was
registered as a banal object to be
imported and put into the same category as domestic utensils
or surgical instruments. I thus had to pay a tax of about $600
[in fact $240]. I was frightfully
offended and decided to
register a complaint. A few days later l was with some friends,
recounting my
mishap, where completely by chance I met Mrs.
Harry
Payne Whitney, founder of the
American Art. She quickly understood that this could set a
precedent and she asked me to
let her lawyers take charge of
the affair. 1 was very
touched by her proposal and accepted
immediately. Edward Steichen
purpose of which,
however, remained a mystery—and to others a work of
art, as good as any others in the great museums of the
world. So began in
From 1913 onwards, American legislation had exempted any object
with the status of a work of art
from customs duty. The law
specified that sculptures should be “carved or shaped in the likeness of natural models” in “all proportions:
length, breadth and width.” A more expansive definition of 1922 stated
that “sculptures or statues had
to be ‘originals;’ must not have been
the object of “more than two
replicas or reproductions;” should have been the unique product of
“professional sculptors;” “carved or
sculpted, and certainly worked
by hand...and where cast in bronze, or any other metal or alloy, they must
have been conceived exclusively
as the professional output of
the said sculptors; and that the words
“painting,” “sculpture” and “statue”... should not be “interpreted to
include utilitarian objects.”
The
problem was thus to agree on what the object was meant to resemble, and moreover to
prove that it was an “original” work, conceived by a professional sculptor, and crafted entirely by his own hands. If today these questions
seem farcical, particularly with
respect to this person and these works, the outcome was less obvious
in 1927.
From his first
JACOB EPSTEIN, CALLED AS A WITNESS
BY THE PLAINTIFF, HAVING TAKEN
THE OATH, MADE THE FOLLOWING
DEPOSITION:
Questioning by
Where do you reside Mr.
Epstein?
In
What is your profession?
I am a
sculptor.
How long have you exercised this
profession?
I have been a sculptor for thirty years
in
Mr. Epstein, will you tell the
court just where you are represented
as far as your work is concerned?
I have a piece of sculpture, I am
happy to say, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in this city and in
Are you represented in
Yes, I
have a work in
Mr. Epstein, are you acquainted with one Constantin Brancusi?
Yes, I have known Constantin Brancusi’s works for the last fifteen years.
I asked you about the man himself.
I knew him fifteen years ago. I
met him from time to time
in
Are you acquainted with his work?
Very well acquainted.
Is Constantin
Brancusi a sculptor?
In my opinion, yes, decidedly
so.
Is he so considered in the world
of art?
He is considered so in the
world of art.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: I object to the “world of
art.”
JUSTICE YOUNG: Limit it to his own knowledge.
JUSTICE WAITE: What is his reputation among
artists, men who are judged artists. How is he considered as an artist?
WITNESS:
He is considered as a
very great artist I should say.
Questions
by
Mr.
Epstein, will you look at Exhibit One in this case and tell
the court whether in your opinion that
is a work of art.
In my
opinion, it is a work of art.
Cross examination by Mr.Higginbotham:
You say you have been working as a sculptor
for thirty years? In what schools did you study?
I started
at the beginning as a student at the Art Students’ League in this city and from
there I went to the national
Did you receive a diploma or
certificate from these schools?
I don’t believe diplomas are given in the schools.
Whether
you believe it or
not, did you receive any?
I know of no such thing as a diploma.
JUSTICE WAITE:
Did you receive anything in the way
of a certificate in writing as an acknowledgement of the work that you have done in these institutions?
I won my way into the Gallery Of Beaux Arts by competition with the entire c1ass,
where I had to model a figure so as to get in.
I take that as meaning what you wish.
You are not admitted unless you show
yourself competent in some work.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM:
Your business now is what?
My business here, to exhibit a collection of my own works.
Your own works?
Of my own works, yes.
In this city?
Yes, Sir, in this city.
What line of sculpture is it?
I do
everything.
When you say everything, do you do
human figures?
Yes, sir.
Do you do any painting?
Yes, I
have done painting.
Do you make painting your
profession?
No,
sculpture is my profession.
Do you have anything to do with
making sculpture similar to Exhibit One?
Well, all
sculptures are different.
I asked you if you made anything
like Exhibit One?
I may not
have the desire to make it.
I did not ask you that.
JUSTICE WAITE: Answer the question. Did you make anything
like that exhibit?
WITNESS: No.
In all your thirty years?
No, I
have not made anything like that.
Do you consider from the training
you have had and based on your
experience you had in these different schools and galleries—do you consider
that a work of art?
I certainly do.
When you say you consider that a work of art, will you kindly tell me why?
Well, it pleases my
sense of beauty, gives me a
feeling of pleasure. Made by a
sculptor, it has to me a great many elements, but consists in itself
as a beautiful object. To me it is a work of art.
So, if we had a brass
rail, highly polished, curved in a more or less symmetrical and harmonious
circle, it would be a work of art?
It might become a work of art.
Whether it is made by a sculptor or made by a mechanic?
A mechanic cannot make beautiful work.
Do you mean to tell us that Exhibit One, if formed up by a
mechanic---that is, a first class mechanic with a file and polishing tools---could not polish
that article up?
He can
polish it up, but he cannot conceive of the object. That is the whole point. He cannot conceive those particular lines which give it its individual beauty. That is the difference between a
mechanic and an artist; he (the
mechanic) cannot conceive as an artist.
JUSTICE WAITE: If he can
conceive, then he would cease to be a mechanic and become an artist?
WITNESS: Would become an artist; that is right.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM:
You say you have known Mr. Brancusi for a good many years?
For about fifteen years.
You say he is known as a great artist?
He is known as a great
artist.
Is he known as a great artist or a great sculptor?
I use both titles; they are synonymous to me. A great artist may be
a great sculptor and a
great sculptor may be a great artist.
You have seen many pieces of his work?
I have seen probably twenty or thirty pieces.
Were they all similar to the
exhibit one here?
No, they are not similar; they are different.
In what way are they
different?
Well, they are individual
creations, each work must be different.
What do they represent, the
ones you saw?
Some represented birds,
some human forms, nude
forms and anatomical studies even.
So he has made
sculptures of human forms?
Yes, decidedly.
When you say some
represented a bird, does that (Exhibit One) represent a bird to you?
To me it is a
matter of indifference what it represents.
In so far as that
piece of sculpture is concerned, in appealing to the aesthetic taste, it does not make any difference what it
represents?
Not at all. There are limits.
We will say a certain
piece of rock, marble, is taken by a sculptor
and simply chipped off at intervals. As
long as that chipping off at intervals
was done by a sculptor, you
would consider it a work of art?
The moment a piece of rock, marble, is begun in the hands of the man, if he is an artist, it can become, from that moment, a work of art.
MR SPEISER: Mr.Epstein, I ask you if you are
familiar with the works of Mr. Brancusi?
WITNESS: Yes.
I hand you a
publication “The Arts”, dated July 22,1923,
and ask you if you have seen any of Mr. Brancusi’s pieces pictured therein as works of
art, beginning at page 18 to 29?
I have seen one of these;
this one on page 18.
I would, of course, start off with that artist’s
title, and if the artist called it a
bird, I would take it seriously, if I have any respect for the artist whatsoever.
It would be my first endeavor to see whether it was like a bird. In this particular
piece of sculpture there are the
elements of a bird, certain
elements.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: What elements?
If you regard the piece of sculpture in profile, you see
there, it is like the breast of a bird, especially on this side.
All breasts of birds are more or less rounded?
Yes.
Any rounded piece of bronze then, in other words, could represent a bird?
That I cannot say.
JUSTICE WAITE: Looks more like the keel of a boat,
too?
If it were lying down.
And a little like the crescent of a new moon?
Yes.
MR. HIGGINBOTHAM: If Mr. Brancusi
called this a fish, it would be then to you a fish?
If he
called it a fish I would call it a fish.
If he called it a tiger, it would change your mind to a tiger?
No.
In your thirty years experience you
have met many other sculptors and
artists?
Yes, Sir.
You have seen their works?
Yes.
Do any of them do works of this class and character?
There are other artists that do work similar, not absolutely like Brancusi, but of
that character.
So he stands practically alone and isolated in this particular class of
art?
No. He is
related to a very ancient form of sculpture; I should say even
to the Egyptian. He does not stand absolutely alone. He is
related to the fine ancient sculpture like the early Egyptian three thousand years old. If you would like me
to bring into court a piece of sculpture,
ancient sculpture, which I happen
to have, I can illustrate.
(Witness leaves the stand to get the
sample.)
What is that piece you have
there?
That is a
hawk.
Will you show ft to the
court so as to illustrate you answer?
This is an ancient Egyptian hawk,
three thousand years ago.
JUSTICE WAITE: You can see some
similarity in form, with what you
understand to be a hawk?
WITNESS: An ornithologist might not find it. I see
the resemblance to a bird;
the feathers are not shown; the feet
are not shown.
JUSTICE WAITE: The wings and the feet are not shown,
still you get the impression it is a hawk?
Yes.
Justice Waite’s judgment “It’s art”
...In the meanwhile, there has been developing a so
called new school of art whose exponents attempt to portray abstract ideas
rather than to imitate natural objects. Whether or not we are in sympathy with these newer ideas and the schools which represent them, we think the facts of their existence
and their influence upon the art world
as recognized by the courts must
be considered.
The object now under consideration is shown to be for purely ornamental purposes, its use being the same as that of any piece of sculpture of the old
masters. It is beautiful and symmetrical in outline, and while some difficulty might be encountered in associating it with a bird, it is nevertheless pleasing to look at and highly ornamental. And as we hold under the evidence that it is the original production of a professional sculptor and is a fact
a piece of sculpture and a work of art according to the authorities above referred to, we sustain the protest and find that it
is entitled to free entry under paragraph 1704, supra.
Let judgment be entered accordingly.
The complete lawsuit is published by Adam Biro, Brancusi
contre Etats-Unis: un procès historaque, 1928, (
FFr144 ISBN 2876601648. The Art Newspaper is grateful to the publishers
for permission to publish Margit Rowell’s
preface.
~ FROM
ART NEWSPAPER #63, OCTOBER, 1996