From October 8, 2011, through April 15, 2012, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao presents Brancusi-Serra, the most ambitious exhibition to date dedicated to Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), the precursor of modern sculpture, and Richard Serra (1938), one of the leading exponents of contemporary sculpture.

La exposición está organizada por el Museo Guggenheim Bilbao en colaboración con la Fondation Beyeler de Basilea, la muestra examina la relación entre estos dos pioneros de la escultura a través de cincuenta obras; una mirada a más de un siglo en el desarrollo de la escultura moderna.

Organized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel, Switzerland, the exhibition examines the relationship between these two pioneers, focusing on the development of modern sculpture, spanning over a century.

Brancusi was born in Romania and settled in Paris in 1904. He is known for reducing his sculptures to their essence, thus laying the foundations for abstract sculpture. Half a century later, U.S. artist Serra redefined the effect that sculpture is capable of having on the viewer, creating Minimalist pieces out of steel that compel the observer to engage with the work.
 

Constantin Brancusi Sleeping Muse (La muse endormie), 1911 Bronze, 16 x 27.3 x 18.5 cm Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, Paris Gift Baroness Renée Irana Frachon, 1963 © Collection Centre Pompidou, Paris Photograph: Adam Rzepka.

Thirty sculptures by Brancusi and nine pieces by Serra-illustrating the development of both artists' perceptions on sculpture-are on display together with Serra's monumental installation The Matter of Time (1994–2005) which is permanently housed in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao's ArcelorMittal Gallery 104. Viewers will enjoy an experience filled with intense physical and psychological sensations provoked by the striking affinities and bold contrasts between the two artists.

Brancusi–Serra is a dialogue between two artists whose work has forever changed the course of modern sculpture, an exhibition set in the sinuous volumes and titanium curves of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by architect Frank Gehry.

Brancusi-Serra
October, 8 - April, 15, 2012.

Museo Guggenheim Bilbao
Avenida Abandoibarra, 2
48001 Bilbao Bizkaia

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Richard Serra. (Born 2 November 1938 in San Francisco - 26 March 2024), Richard Serra lives and works in New York and on the North Fork of Long Island. Serra attended the University of California, Berkeley before transferring to the University of California, Santa Barbara graduating with a BA in English literature; he then studied painting at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut completing both a BFA and MFA. He began showing with Leo Castelli in 1968, and his first solo exhibition in New York was held at the Leo Castelli Warehouse the following year. His first solo museum exhibition was held at the Pasadena Art Museum, California, in 1970.

Serra’s sculptures and drawings have been celebrated with two retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, twenty years apart: Richard Serra/Sculpture (1986) and Richard Serra Sculpture: Forty Years (2007). He has had solo exhibitions at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1977–78); Kunsthalle Tübingen, Germany (1978); Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Germany (1978); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (1980, 2014, and 2017); Centre Pompidou, Paris (1983–84); Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany (1985); Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark (1986); Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Münster, Germany (1987); Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (1987); Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (1988); Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht, Netherlands (1990); Kunsthaus Zürich (1990); CAPC Musée d’Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France (1990); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid (1992); Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (1992); Dia Center for the Arts, New York (1997); Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro (1997–98); Trajan’s Market, Rome (1999–2000); Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2003); and Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Naples, Italy (2004).

In 2005 The Matter of Time (1994–2005), a series of eight large-scale works, was installed permanently at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain. For Monumenta 2008, the major site-specific installation Promenade was shown at the Grand Palais, Paris. Three years later the  large-scale, site-specific sculpture 7 was permanently installed opposite the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. A major traveling retrospective dedicated to Serra’s drawings was presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Menil Collection, Houston (the organizing venue), from 2011 to 2012.

In 2014 the Qatar Museums Authority presented a two-venue retrospective survey of Serra’s work, and East-West/West-East (2014) was permanently installed in the Brouq Nature Reserve, Zekreet, Qatar. In 2017 the Museum Wiesbaden, Germany, presented Richard Serra: Props, Films, Early Works; an overview of Serra’s work in film and video was shown at the Kunstmuseum Basel; and recent drawings were featured at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Serra has participated in numerous major international exhibitions, including Documenta (1972, 1977, 1982, and 1987), and the Biennale di Venezia (1980, 1984, 2001, and 2013), and his work has been included in many Whitney Annuals and Biennials (1968, 1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1995, and 2006). He is the recipient of the Leone d’Oro for lifetime achievement, Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2001); Orden Pour le Mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste, Federal Republic of Germany (2002); Orden de las Artes y las Letras de España, Spain (2008); President’s Medal, Architectural League of New York (2014); Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur, Republic of France (2015); and J. Paul Getty Medal (2018).
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Published on: October 7, 2011
Cite: "Brancusi-Serra" METALOCUS. Accessed
<https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/brancusi-serra> ISSN 1139-6415
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