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16. 05. 12. - 15:00

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16. 05. 12. - 15:00

Brancusi’s son doesn’t want his father remains to be moved to Romania

Michael Leidig

John Moore, the only child of sculpture Constantin Brancusi, reacted to Romania’s intention to repatriate the remains of his father, saying his last will was to be buried in Paris at Montparnasse, Libertatea newspaper informs today (Weds).

Moore, 78 year-old, who was never recognized by Brancusi, said it would be against the Christian tradition to exhume his remains.

"Exhuming his earthly remains, 55 years after his death, would be totally unchristian. Until the official request will be made (to France), I am asking the Romanian state to not bother his eternal sleep", Moore told Libertatea.

The genius Romanian sculpture, was born in 1876 in the little village of Hobita located in south-west Romania. He studied Arts in Bucharest but made his career in France where he continued his studies at The Ecoles des Beaux Arts.

Brancusi cut all links with his home country in 1951, after his work praised all over the world as revolutionary, was criticized by the Romanian Academy as "decadent". An angry Brancusi then burst into the Romanian Embassy in Paris and handed in his Romanian passport, and applied for the French citizenship, that he obtained a year later.

Brancusi died at the age of 81, on 16 March 1957 and was buried at the famous Parisian cemetery Montparnasse. He left all his belongings to two Romanian friends Alexandre Istrati and  Natalia Dumitresco and donated all his work arts and sculpture studio to France.

His son, who resulted from a passionate love affair with famous Australian pianist Vera Moore, didn’t inherit anything from his father. Nevertheless, John Moore is determined to fight for his father's last will to be respected.

"His will is my will and I will take a stand when the intention of the Romanian state will become official. I don’t know exactly what I am going to do, I am not going to rush into anything yet because I don’t have a plan, because I don’t think that such a thing is possible for now", he said.

Concerned only with his art,  Brancusi never acknowledged John as his natural heir. Since the very beginning, John was named after his mother, taking after his father in only one regard: passion for photography, which was Brancusi’s second passion after sculpture.

55 years after the death of his famous father, John Moore lives just as discreetly in France, at Jouy en Josas, very close to Paris.

Considered the pioneer of modernism, Brancusi is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. His abstract style emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Famous Brâncuși works include the Sleeping Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite (Coloana infinitului), popularly known as The Endless Column (1938).

His sculptures are included in private collections and also in permanent collections at some of the most famous museums in the world.

In 2009, one of Brancusi’s wooden sculptures set a record sale, with 29. Million Euros ("Madame L.R."). His sculptors are evaluated at over 20 million Euros every time a piece from a private collection is put on sale.

On Sunday, the new Romanian Culture Minister Mircea Diaconu travelled to Hobita and pledged to bring the remains of Brancusi home. Diaconu said Romania owes Brancusi so much and by burring him in his home village would be just a small gesture to mend the injustice the former Communist rulers did to the genius sculpture.

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