Closed Minds or Open for Business, The Brancusi Debate

The Journal’s Ellen Gammerman wades into the debate over Paul Kasmin Gallery’s show of posthumously cast Brancusi sculptures which the gallerist feels are worth about a third of a lifetime work:

Asher Edelman, a New York art dealer and collector, more than a decade ago sold the posthumous Brancusi he acquired in the 1980s after Brancusi expert Sidney Geist told him that he was “a fool” for having it in his collection. Mr. Edelman said the artists works were all one-of-a-kind, so any posthumous pieces arent Brancusis: “There is no such thing as a posthumous edition of a Brancusi—there are replicas, which is what these are.”

The five sculptures in the New York gallery were created legally with the estates approval, cast from plasters found in Brancusis studio and produced between 1992 and 2010 in the Susse foundry near Paris—the same foundry that has done work over the years for the estates of Joan Miró, Alberto Giacometti and Max Ernst.

“There are always going to be people who say theyre 100% against it. I can only help guide you with whats fact—I cant decide somebody elses morals for them,” said Mr. Kasmin. “What we want to come of this is to know that Brancusi, like many other great artists estates, is open for business.” […]

Posthumous Brancusis have entered collections such as the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, Calif. The exhibition catalog states that such works have been purchased by respected collectors like Nelson Rockefeller, who had “Bird in Space” cast as a memorial tribute years after the 1961 death of his son Michael.

Growing Furor over Brancusi Show in New York (Wall Street Journal)