Curator, Anne Umland: I’d like to share a poem by Mina Loy. She was among the many creative individuals who visited Brancusi’s studio. She’s said to have cooked dinner there on one occasion and she often went with Brancusi out to the movies.
For me, the simpler Brancusi’s art gets, the more difficult it is to match the experience of the sculpture to words. So when I read Mina Loy’s poem, it just took my breath away. The bird is silent, and yet, her words bring sound and sight and movement.
Narrator: “Brancusi’s Golden Bird,” by Mina Loy.
The toy
become the aesthetic archetype
As if
some patient peasant God
had rubbed and rubbed
the Alpha and Omega
of Form
into a lump of metal
A naked orientation
unwinged unplumed
the ultimate rhythm
has lopped the extremities
of crest and claw
from
the nucleus of flight
The absolute act
of art
conformed
to continent sculpture
—bare as the brow of Osiris—
this breast of revelation
an incandescent curve
licked by chromatic flames
in labyrinths of reflections
This gong
of polished hyperaesthesia
shrills with brass
as the aggressive light
strikes
its significance
The immaculate
conception
of the inaudible bird
occurs
in gorgeous reticence
Narrator: To hear more about Bird in Space, enter 6-1-3-1 into the search bar at the top of your screen.