Assistant Curator, Mia Matthias: This grouping of three sculptures is inspired by a photograph that Brancusi took in his studio. This practice of combining constellations of sculptures is something that Brancusi referred to as a “mobile group.” Mobile groups were temporary. We see them pop up in photographs or films, and they seemed to be how he understood and experimented with his works.
This platform gets at several different ways in which Brancusi combines forms, because in The Sorceress, you have a titled pedestal, The Watchdog, with another sculpture atop it to create a new work. They begin to play off of each other, as if she has this trusty companion or a sidekick, and she’s flying through the air. There’s a narrative within a single artwork. And then you have The Kiss, which makes the idea of fusing forms literal. You have these two figures that are eternally wrapped around each other in this gesture.
The works shift in relationship to each other. It’s nice that they’re temporary because it isn’t the only interpretation, but it’s one of many, and I think Brancusi is prompting viewers to be open to many combinations and possibilities by creating these mobile groups.
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