The subject of a sleeping head occupied Brancusi for almost twenty years. In conceiving and executing Sleeping Muse, the sculptor eschewed drama and detail in favor of reducing ideas to fundamental forms and simplified details. He rendered the essence of languor in the prostrate position of the head, weighed down by inertia, resting peacefully. This bronze is one of four casts made in 1910 from a marble of the previous year for which Baroness Renée Irana Franchon was the model.
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Marking: Foundry mark (under chignon): CIRE/ C. VALSUANI/ PERDUE
the artist (1910–at least 1913; sold through Edward Steichen, probably in summer 1913/ by spring 1914, to Stieglitz); Alfred Stieglitz, New York (1913/14–d. 1946; his estate, 1946–49; gift to MMA with a life interest retained by Emmeline Stieglitz until 1953)
New York. 291. "An Exhibition of Original Sculpture, in Bronze, Marble, and Wood, by Constantine Brancusi, of Paris," March 12–April 1, 1914, extended to April 4, 1914, brochure no. 4.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "History of an American, Alfred Stieglitz: '291' and After, Selections from the Stieglitz Collection," July 1–November 1, 1944, no. 109 (as "Sleep").
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Alfred Stieglitz Exhibition: His Collection," June 10–August 31, 1947, no catalogue (checklist no. 1; as "Sleep").
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alfred Stieglitz: His Photographs and His Collection," February 2–29, 1948, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Galleries," April 9–October 17, 1965, no catalogue.
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Constantin Brancusi, 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition," September 26–November 2, 1969, unnumbered cat. (p. 45).
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Constantin Brancusi, 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition," November 21, 1969–February 15, 1970, unnumbered cat.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Constantin Brancusi, 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition," March 14–April 26, 1970, unnumbered cat.
The Hague. Gemeentemuseum. "Brancusi," September 19–November 29, 1970, no. 12.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 402.
Bellevue, Wash. Bellevue Art Museum. "Five Thousand Years of Faces," January 30–July 30, 1983, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sculptors' Drawings: 1900–1935," November 10, 1994–March 26, 1995, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Some Women," December 6, 1996–April 13, 1997, no catalogue [on view until February 10, 1997].
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Florene M. Schoenborn Bequest: 12 Artists of the School of Paris," February 11–May 4, 1997, extended to August 31, 1997, not in brochure [among 14 non-Schoenborn bequest works included in the exhibition].
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries," January 28–April 22, 2001, unnumbered cat. (pl. 39).
Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "Six Leading Sculptors and the Human Figure: Rodin, Bourdelle, Maillol, Brancusi, Giacometti, Moore," June 9–September 30, 2004, no. IV.4.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde," November 27, 2012–September 2, 2013, no catalogue (on view until April 12, 2013).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021, unnumbered cat. (fig. 180).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion," May 10–September 2, 2024, unnumbered cat. (p. II).
[Elisabeth Luther Cary]. "Art at Home and Abroad: Brancusi." New York Times (March 22, 1914), p. SM11.
Charles H. Caffin. "[Review of Exh. New York 1914]." New York American (1914) [reprinted in "Camera Work," no. 45, January/June 1914, p. 26].
Paul B. Haviland. "Exhibition of Sculptures by Brancusi." Camera Work no. 45 (January/June 1914), pp. 18–19, generally discusses the sculpture in Exh. New York 1914.
[Henry McBride]. "What is Happening in the World of Art." Sun (New York) (March 22, 1914), section 7, p. 2.
William B. M'Cormick. "Varied Professions Shown in Novel Exhibition of Work of Two Englishmen. Exhibition of Brancusi's Sculptures Recalls Freakish Egg-Shaped Head of Cubist's Show." New York Press (March 22, 1914), p. 8.
Athena C. Tacha. "Review. Ionel Jianou, "Constantin Brancusi"." Art Bulletin 46 (June 1964), pp. 62–63.
S. P. "A Stieglitz Tribute." New York Times (August 22, 1965), ill. p. X17.
Mircea Deac. Constantin Brâncuşi. Bucharest, 1966, p. 156, dates it 1912.
Athena Tacha Spear. "A Contribution to Brancusi Chronology." Art Bulletin 48 (March 1966), pp. 46–48, 53, no. 34d, fig. 3 (marble).
Sidney Geist. Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture. New York, 1968, pp. 34–35, 39–41, 56, 175, 218, no. 57d, fig. 57 (unknown edition).
Athena T. Spear. "The Literature of Art: The Sculpture of Brancusi." Burlington Magazine 111 (March 1969), p. 157.
Sidney Geist. Constantin Brancusi, 1876–1957: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. New York, 1969, pp. 13, 15–17, 20–23, 44–45, 57, 65, 77, ill.
George Heard Hamilton. "The Alfred Stieglitz Collection." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), p. 382.
Emily Genauer. "Art and the Artist." New York Post (November 21, 1970), p. 34.
Hilton Kramer. "Great Art Works in a Hi-Fi Setting." New York Times (November 13, 1970), p. 23.
Albert Boime. "Brancusi in New York: Ab ovo ad infinitum." Burlington 1970 112 (May 1970), p. 335.
Rosalind E. Krauss. "Brancusi and the Myth of Ideal Form." Artforum 8 (January 1970), pp. 36–37, ill. (Hirshhorn edition).
Sidney Geist. Brancusi: The Sculpture and Drawings. New York, 1975, p. 178, no. 72c.
Ionel Jianou. Brancusi. (1st ed., 1963). Paris, 1982, p. 98, no. 47, pl. 25 (Art Institute of Chicago version), dates the MMA edition 1917.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 426, no. 33, ill. (color).
Sidney Geist. Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture. Rev. and augmented ed. (1st ed., 1968). New York, 1983, pp. 35, 175, 218, no. 57d, ill. (unknown edition).
Radu Varia. Brancusi. New York, 1986, ill. p. 139 (color).
Gary Tinterow et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 8, Modern Europe. New York, 1987, p. 117, ill. (color).
Pontus Hulten, Natalia Dumitresco, and Alexandre Istrati. Brancusi. New York, 1987, pp. 94, 96, 284, no. 62c, date it about 1910.
Friedrich Teja Bach. Constantin Brancusi: Metamorphosen Plastischer Form. Cologne, 1987, pp. 430–31, no. 99c.
Sarah Whitaker Peters. Becoming O'Keeffe: The Early Years. New York, 1991, pp. 160, 339 n. 16, pl. 72.
Anna C. Chave. Constantin Brancusi: Shifting the Bases of Art. New Haven, 1993, pp. 17, 32, 40, 43, 45, 47, 50, 52, 60, 63, 65, 73–74, 90, 125–26, 138, 206, fig. 4.5, colorpl. 1.
Ann Temkin in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 156, 158, 162–63, 530, pl. 35 (installation photo, Exh. New York 1914), colorpl. 39.
Dr. Doïna Lemny. Six Leading Sculptors and the Human Figure: Rodin, Bourdelle, Maillol, Brancusi, Giacometti, Moore. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexander Soutzos Museum. [Athens], 2004, pp. 295–96, no. IV.4, ill. (color) pp. 287, 295.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, p. 14.
Christel Hollevoet-Force inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 17–19, 242, 314 nn. 16, 19, no. 1, ill. (color) and fig. 8 (installation photo, Exh. New York 1914).
Abra Levenson. "Figures and Things: Charles Demuth, 1908–1935." PhD diss., Princeton University, 2018, p. 138, fig. 185.
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, p. 7, ill. p. 18 (color).
Douglas Eklund, Marilyn F. Friedman, and Randall R. Griffey inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 166, 253, fig. 180 (color).
Andrew Bolton. Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2024, ill. p. II (color).
Constantin Brancusi (French (born Romania), Hobita 1876–1957 Paris)
1923
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