Mlle Pogany
Constantin Brâncuși
Romanian and French, born Romania. 1876–1957
version I, 1913 (after a marble of 1912)
Mlle Pogany is a small bronze portrait—black-patinated and set on a limestone base—in which Brâncuși reduces the dancer Margit Pogány’s head to an egg‑like, sensuous essence to capture a universal, lyrical femininity rather than a literal likeness.
You’re struck by the contrast between a gleaming, warm sweep of polished bronze that wraps and peels away from a darker ovoid skull with a stylized spiral ear, the surfaces so smooth and reflective they seem to breathe while the rough stone base anchors the piece.
By paring a portrait to emblematic planes and curves, Brâncuși turned likeness into pure form, a decisive move that helped propel modern sculpture toward abstraction and minimalism and redefined what a portrait could be.
Medium
Bronze with black patina 17 1/4 x 8 1/2 x 12 1/2" (43.8 x 21.5 x 31.7 cm), on limestone base 5 3/4 x 6 1/8 x 7 3/8" (14.6 x 15.6 x 18.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest (by exchange)
Accession
2.1953
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
