The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

A vertical, shiny brass cylinder with two shorter brass cylinders jutting out diagonally from its base.

Male Torso

1917

Constantin Brancusi

(Romanian, 1876–1957)

France, 20th century

brass

with base: 63.8 x 30.5 x 19.1 cm (25 1/8 x 12 x 7 1/2 in.)

Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1937.3205

Location: 223 20th Century Avant-Garde

Did You Know?

Brancusi studied under Auguste Rodin but left after a few months, commenting: "Nothing can grow under big trees."

Description

This sculpture depicts a simplified human torso without limbs or head. The artist’s goal was not to move toward abstraction, but to capture the essence of things in his sculptures. Here, he stripped the human body down to its most basic components: one sleek cylinder representing the torso and two representing the upper thighs. Constantin Brancusi made three versions of this artwork: a wood version (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and two in brass (this museum and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden). The smooth surfaces of the brass versions dazzle the eye with their gleaming high polish.

(Joseph Brummer Gallery)
Milliken. William. "New Acquisitions of Present-Day Sculpture." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 25, no. 4 (April 1938): 63-65. Reproduced: p. 58; Mentioned: p. 63-64 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 338 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward B. Henning. Paths of Abstract Art. Cleveland, OH: H.N. Abrams, 1960. Reproduced: fig. 2, p. 5; mentioned: pp. 5,19
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 197 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 197 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 246 archive.org
Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 125, no. 33
Hultén, Pontus, Alexandre Istrati, Natalia Dumitresco, and Jeanne Bouniort. Constantin Brancusi. Paris, France: Flammarion, 1995. Reproduced: p. 16; Mentioned: p. 17
Flynn, Tom. The Body in Three Dimensions. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1998. Reproduced: p. 136; Mentioned: p. 137
Nielsen, Anne Marie. Tæt på en torso: Belvedere-torsoen som kunstværk og forbillede. København, Denmark: Ny Carlsberg glyptotek, 2001. Reproduced: p. 91, fig. 24
Baselitz, Georg, Wolfgang Brückle, Auguste Rodin, and Andreas Schalhorn. Von Rodin bis Baselitz: der Torso in der Skulptur der Moderne ; [Katalogbuch zur Ausstellung "Von Rodin bis Baselitz - Der Torso in der Skulptur der Moderne" in der Staatsgalerie Stuttgart vom 7. April bis 19. August 2001]. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2001. Reproduced: p. 40
Varnedoe, Kirk. Pictures of Nothing: Abstract Art Since Pollock. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. Reproduced: p. 200, fig. 5, 16
Adams, Laurie. The Making and Meaning of Art. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006. N70 .A33 2006 Reproduced: p. 253, fig. 13.9
Etschmann, Walter, and Robert Hahne. Kammerlohr: Themen der Kunst : Design. München, Germany: Oldenbourg, 2008. Reproduced: p. 5
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 298-299
Biro, Yaëlle, Christine E. Brennan, and Christel H. Force. The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York: Defining Taste from Antiquities to the Avant-Garde. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2023. Mentioned: p. 485; reproduced: p. 486, fig. c.2
Criqui, Jean-Pierre. "Part-Object." In Brancusi: Art Is Just Beginning, Ariane Coulondre, V. Loth, Julie Jones, and Centre Georges Pompidou, 201-204. Zürich, Switzerland: Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess AG, 2024. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 203-204
Brancusi: L’Exposition = The Exhibition. Paris, France: Centre Pompidou, 2024. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 28
Brancusi. Centre national d'art et de culture Georges Pompidou, Paris cedex O4, France (organizer) (March 27-July 1, 2024).
Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).
Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 5-November 13, 1960).
The Trojan Horse Exhibition of Art of the Machine. Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX (organizer) (September 25-October 20, 1958).
Primitive to Contemporary Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 6-October 31, 1956).
Rouault: Retrospective Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 28-March 15, 1953).
Sculpture 1850-1950. Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (organizer) (March 30-May 14, 1950).
Art, A Means to World Understanding. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 16-April 10, 1949).
The Silver Jubilee Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 23-September 28, 1941).
Sculpture of Our Time. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5-December 5, 1937).
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Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1937.3205