Book Description

The Endless Column Ensemble, by famed Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), has been hailed as one of the great works of twentieth-century public art. Commissioned by the National League of Gorj Women to honour the soldiers who had defended the town of Târgu Jiu against a German force in 1916, the tripartite ensemble, erected between 1937 and 1938, is composed of the Endless Column, a 30-metre-high column of zinc and brass-clad, cast-iron modules, and two stone monuments: the Gate of the Kiss and Table of Silence. Over the years the elements took their toll on the sculpture, and although the Column's modules had been replated several times since its construction, by the 1990s it was in dire need of conservation. This stunningly llustrated volume celebrates the history of this extraordinary work of art and tells the story of its recent restoration, landscaping and presentation, supported in large part by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Brancusi s Endless Column Ensemble launches a series of books co-published by Scala and the WMF, the foremost private organisation dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage around the globe through a programme of fieldwork, advocacy, training and grantmaking. Since its founding in 1965, WMF has worked to stem the loss of more than 430 irreplaceable sites in 83 countries. AUTHOR: Ernest Beck is a New York-based freelance writer and editor. Formerly at The Wall Street Journal, he has been widely published in The New York Times and other arts magazines. Sorana Georgescu-Gorjan, born in Romania, is the curator of the Endless Column archives and editor of the Târgu Jiu journals: Brancusi and Portal Maiastra. She has also authored many books on Brancusi. Richard Newton practised as an architect in the UK prior to moving to the US. He has been a landscape architect with the Olin Partnership since 1993, and managed the landscape restoration of this project. Alexandra Parigoris is Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Fine Arts, History of Art and Cultural Studies, at the University of Leeds. She has taught at Queens University in Canada, and at the Universities of York and of Leeds, where she was a Henry Moore Fellow. Mihai Radu was born in Romania and moved to the US in the 1980s. A successful architect, he eventually become a founding partner of the practice Lauster & Radu Architects (now known as Radu Architects). William Tucker, born in Cairo, spent most of his early life the UK. After studying sculpture in London, he moved to New York in the 1970s. He has since built on his success as a widely acclaimed sculptor, with exhibitions in the US and abroad. 63 colour & 35 b/w illustrations