Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), a Romanian sculptor who settled in France, revolutionized the art of sculpture in the 20th century. His work revealed the beauty of pure form in sculpture, but he endowed it with an organic mystery.

Constantin Brancusi was born into a family of poor peasants in the hamlet of Hobita in the province of Oltenia on Feb. 21, 1876. He taught himself to read and write and at the age of 18 entered the School of Arts and Crafts in Craiova and graduated in 1898. He then studied sculpture at the Bucharest Art School until 1902. His Ecorché, or flayed nude, executed in 1902, is such an accurate study of the male anatomy that it is still used at the medical school in Bucharest.

Brancusi enrolled at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1904, where he studied with Antonin Mercié. But Brancusi was drawn to the innovative art...