Art Institute of Chicago

Golden Bird

Constantin Brancusi · 1919/20 (base c. 1922)

Provenance

Ownership history

The artist; John Quinn (died 1924), New York, by Nov. 24, 1920 [John Quinn’s Art Ledger, Vol. 2, copy in curatorial file]; by descent to the John Quinn Estate, New York, 1924 [Zilczer 1978; Andreotti 1993]; sold to the Arts Club of Chicago, Jan. 1927 [Hulten 1986; Andreotti 1993]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1990.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

New York, Sculptor’s Gallery, Exhibition of Contemporary French Art, March 24–April 10, 1922, n.p. (cat. 14), as Bird, 1921.
Possibly New York, Art Center, Memorial Exhibition of Representative Works Selected from the John Quinn Collection, January 7–30, 1926, p. 12 (cat. 85), as Bird.
Possibly New York, Wildenstein Galleries, The Exhibition of Tri-National Art: French, British, American, February–March 3, 1926, n.p. (cat. 146), as The Bird.
New York, Brummer Gallery, Brancusi Exhibition, November 17–December 15, 1926, n.p. (cat. 20, ill., pl. 20), as Golden Bird, 1919; traveled to Chicago, Arts Club, An Exhibition of Sculpture by Brancusi, January 4–18, 1927, n.p. (cat. 20).
Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, Exhibition of the School of Paris: 1910–1928, March 20–April 12, 1929, n.p. (cat. 29), as Golden Bird.
Chicago, Arts Club, Exhibition of Modern Sculpture and Drawings by Sculptors, June 2, 1933, n.p., (cat. 8, ill.), as The Golden Bird.
Chicago, Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, A Selection of Works by Twentieth-Century Artists, June 20–August 20, 1934, n.p. (cat. 3, ill.), as Flight of Bird, 1919.
Detroit, Institute of Arts, Origins of Modern Sculpture, January 22–March 3, 1946, pp. 6–7, as Bird in Flight; traveled to St. Louis, City Art Museum, March 30–May 1, 1946, p. 19 (cat. 81), as Bird in Flight.
Cincinnati Modern Art Society/Curt Valentin, organizers; Four Modern Sculptors: Brancusi, Calder, Lipchitz, Moore, n.p., as Bird in Flight; traveled to Cincinnati Art Museum, October 1–November 15, 1946.
Philadelphia, Museum of Art and the Fairmount Park Art Association, organizers, Sculpture of the Twentieth Century, p. 41 (cat. 10), as Golden Bird, 1919; traveled to Chicago, Art Institute, January 22–March 8, 1953 (Chicago only).
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (organizer), Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition, pp. 94–95 (ill.), as Golden Bird, 1919; traveled to Philadelphia Museum of Art, September 23–November 15, 1969; New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 21, 1969–February 15, 1970; Art Institute of Chicago, March 14–April 26, 1970.
Philadelphia, Museum of Art, Constantin Brancusi 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition, September 23–October 30, 1969, pp. 94–95 (ill.), as Golden Bird, 1919; traveled to New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, November 25, 1969–February 15, 1970; Chicago, Art Institute, March 11–April 26, 1970.

Literature

Published references

Ezra Pound, The Little Review 8 (Autumn 1921), n.p. (ills., pls. 17, 24).
Sculptor’s Gallery, Exhibition of Contemporary French Art exh. cat. (New York: Sculptor’s Gallery, 1922), n.p. (cat. 14), as Bird, 1921.
Mina Loy, “Brancusi’s Golden Bird,” The Dial v. LXXIII (July–December, 1922), pp. 507-508 (ill.), as The Golden Bird.
Paul Westheim, “Bildhauer in Frankreich,” Das Kunstblatt 6, no. 2 (Potsdam, 1922), pp. 54–55, 57 (ill.), as Der Goldene Vogel.
Carl Einstein and Paul Westheim, Europa Almanach: Malerei, Literatur, Musik, Architektur, Plastik, Bühne, Film, Mode (Potsdam: Gustav Kiepenheuer Publishers, 1925), p. 56 (ill.), as Der heilige Vogel.
Ezra Pound, “Art Supplement,” This Quarter 1, no. 1 (1925), p. 289 (ill.), as L’oiseau d’or, 1920.
Carl Einstein, Die Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts (Berlin: Im Propyläen-Verlag, 1926), pp. 168, 526 (ill.), 569, as Der goldene Vogel.
Roger Fry, Catalogue of the Exhibition of Tri-National Art: French, British, American exh. cat. (New York: Wildenstein Galleries, 1926), n.p. (cat. 146), as The Bird.
Paul Morand, Brancusi exh. cat. (New York: Brummer Gallery, 1926), n.p. (cat. 20, ill., pl. 20), as Golden Bird, 1919.
Walter Pach, Memorial Exhibition of Representative Works Selected from the John Quinn Collection exh. cat. (New York: Art Center, 1926), p. 12 (cat. 85), as Bird.
Possibly Forbes Watson, John Quinn 1870–1925 [sic]: Collection of Paintings, Water Colors, Drawings and Sculpture (Huntington, New York: Pidgeon Hill Press, 1926), p. 27, as Bird.
C. J. Bulliet, “Artless Comment on The Seven Arts,” Chicago Evening Post Magazine of Art (January 11, 1927), p. 3, as Golden Bird.

Comparables