Constantin Brancusi Memorial House in Hobita

A lot has been written about Constantin Brancusi, the Romanian who revolutionized sculpture in the first half of the 20th century, but little is known about his Romanian biography. Brancusi was born 136 years ago, on February the 19th 1876 in Hobita, a vi

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România Internațional, 29.04.2012, 17:55

A lot has been written about Constantin Brancusi, the Romanian who revolutionized sculpture in the first half of the 20th century, but little is known about his Romanian biography. Brancusi was born 136 years ago, on February the 19th 1876 in Hobita, a village in Gorj County, southwestern Romania, and his childhood was not different from that of any peasant’s child from Oltenia.

The house where he was born has been turned into a museum. Here is Doina Banu, curator at the Constantin Brancusi memorial house.

“The house is old, it was built 180 years ago. At that time its owners were considered well off, as the house had three rooms. All the family members, 7 children and two parents, used to sleep in the first room, which was a ‘living room’. They all used to sleep on a long bed, covered by beautiful traditional carpets with geometrical motives. There is also a wooden cabinet with a sun carved on it, a chest of drawers, like those that were given to girls before getting married, and a loom that belonged to Brancusi’s mother. A fireplace was in the kitchen, which was also used for heating the living room.”

The second room, also known as the fire room, was in fact what we call today kitchen. Here all the family used to gather around a three-legged round table for dinner. That small table would later serve as inspiration for one of Brancusi’s monuments in Targu Jiu, “The Table of Silence”. The third room was a storeroom for food.

Constantin Brancusi’s father, Nicolae, was a woodcarver who was also trying his hand at farming, because the family owned 7 hectares of farmland. When the future sculptor was only nine, his father passed away, leaving behind 7 children. Here is Doina Banu with details from Brancusi’s childhood.

“Constantin Brancusi lived in Hobita by the time he was 11. Until that time he had gone to the primary school in the nearby village of Pestisani for two years. While in the third grade he carved his initials on a school desk, which attracted him a punishment from the schoolmaster who closed him in a chicken coop. The punishment angered Brancusi who wouldn’t go to that school anymore. He joined a school in his grandparents’ village where he completed his primary education. Lacking the authority of his father, at the age of 11, a rebellious Brancusi fled home and went to Targu Jiu, where he worked as a wool dyer. But his mother soon found him and brought him back to Hobita, where he stayed for a while. His next escape took him further, to Slatina, where he got employed as servant in an inn. From that moment on Brancusi came to his native village only as a visitor. The last visit he paid to Hobita was in 1938, after he had completed the monument in Targu Jiu.”

Having graduated from the School of Art and Trades in Craiova and that of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Brancusi gradually made a name for himself in Romanian art circles as a classic sculptor. However, his dreams – leading him towards absolute originality — were fulfilled in Paris, where Brancusi came to live in the early 20th century. Brancusi shot to fame in Paris, but he kept part of the traditions he first witnessed in Hobita.

Here is Doina Banu at the microphone again.

“He had a small round table in his workshop, where he used to treat his friends with poached eggs, polenta, pickled cabbage and plum brandy. The copious lunches he offered attracted him the nickname of ‘the peasant-prince’. He usually came back to Hobita alone, but in 1922 he came along with an Irish girlfriend Eileen, whom he dressed like a peasant woman from Gorj. For her he organized a peasant picnic on the Cioaca Hill, where he wanted to build a house. He boiled chestnuts in clay pots and served wine in clay mugs. His Irish girlfriend was fascinated with the sound made by liquids poured in these mugs. And when he questioned Brancusi about the sound, the answer came promptly, ‘the sound of earth, the sound of love’. When Eileen left, he gave her several clay mugs and told her to bring them to that big village, called Paris, to show her friends how people in Hobita live.”

Brancusi died in 1957 in Paris, leaving behind famous sculptures, such as “Miss Pogany”, “Bird in Space”’ and the “Endless Column”.