{"id":802,"date":"2025-05-28T18:32:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:32:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/msbrazelton.wpenginepowered.com\/?page_id=802"},"modified":"2026-06-02T19:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:27:21","slug":"about-the-newborn","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/brazeltoninstitute.childrenshospital.org\/es\/nbi-community\/poetry-and-practice\/about-the-newborn\/","title":{"rendered":"About \u201cThe Newborn\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le Nouveau-n\u00e9)<\/em> Brancusi (Romania 1876- Paris 1957)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflection by Drina Candilis-Huisman<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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English translation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The approach of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi consists of searching for a sketch, an essence from a series on the same theme, that varies in a single detail from one sculpture to another. There are therefore various versions of his sculpture entitled The Newborn. Some are in marble (Newborn 1915, Fig 1), others in bronze polished like gold to reflect and attract the light (Newborn II 1916, Fig 2). With Brancusi, the newborn is a perfect and shiny ovoid shape with a cutaway, which, in the artist’s mind, means the mouth, but which can also be interpreted as the need for openness to the other. He also sketches a kind of slight horizontal furrow as if traced with a pen, that evokes the imprint of the brow bone. A small bulge ends the mouth suggests a baby’s chin.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Original version (French)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

La d\u00e9marche du sculpteur Constantin Brancusi consiste \u00e0 rechercher \u00e0 une \u00e9pure, une essence \u00e0 partir de s\u00e9ries sur un m\u00eame th\u00e8me qui varient d\u2019un d\u00e9tail d\u2019une sculpture \u00e0 l\u2019autre. On trouve donc diverses versions de sa sculpture le Nouveau-n\u00e9. Certaines sont en marbre (Nouveau-n\u00e9 1915) d\u2019autres en bronze poli comme de l\u2019or pour refl\u00e9ter et attirer la lumi\u00e8re. (Nouveau-n\u00e9 II 1916, ) Avec Brancusi, le nouveau-n\u00e9 est une forme ovo\u00efde parfaite et brillante avec un pan coup\u00e9 qui, dans l\u2019esprit de l\u2019artiste, signifie la bouche, mais que l\u2019on peut aussi interpr\u00e9ter comme la n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 d\u2019une ouverture \u00e0 l\u2019autre. Il esquisse aussi une sorte de l\u00e9ger sillon horizontal comme trac\u00e9 \u00e0 la plume qui \u00e9voque l\u2019empreinte de l\u2019arcade sourcili\u00e8re. Un petit renflement termine la bouche sugg\u00e9rant le menton du b\u00e9b\u00e9.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Figure
Figure 1. Newborn 1915<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Figure
Figure 2. Newborn II 1916<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Figure
Figure 3. Newborn 1923<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Figure
Figure 4. Newborn 1923<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

From 1923 the ovoid was placed on a three-level plinth (Figures 3 and 4). Art historians point out that this introduces the newborn into a narrative space. Which is very fair: doesn’t narrativity start at three? We can also interpret this triad in various ways. The rounded wooden shape in which a space is hollowed out refers to the idea of a matrix. It is surmounted by a white block with four faces, in the shape of a cross. The four-sided blocks often symbolize the four corners of the world for Brancusi, a kind of metaphor for universality. Or it may symbolize the male form that leads the baby into the world or perhaps even the image of the exit from the matrix and the support that is necessary for the newborn to exist. Or, the aspiration towards life that Brancusi has always celebrated, especially with his Endless Columns, which made his reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will add that the theme of the child is present in the work at different stages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n