Brancusi: the artist and his studio

Exhibition at MoMA, New York, 25 October 2026 – 27 February 2027

Dissatisfied with how others represented his work, the legendary sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957) took up the camera himself. Over his lifetime, he produced more than 1,000 photographs documenting the evolution of his artworks and the unique setting in which they were made.

These luminous tritone images capture his ever-changing studio over the course of four decades, ranging from intimate studies of individual sculptures to wide-angle views of carefully arranged ensembles. Layered scenes of in-progress artworks, tools and raw materials offer behind-the-scenes glimpses of Brancusi’s creative process. Photographs of the artist alongside an array of visitors, including Man Ray, Berenice Abbott, Marcel Duchamp and Mina Loy, illustrate the studio as a lively space of work, play and display.

Featuring more than 130 photographs taken by the artist, this lavishly illustrated exhibition catalogue offers a revealing portrait of Brancusi’s dynamic environment that ultimately became a work of art in its own right.