ARTH101: GUIDED ART OBSERVATION 1
IS IT ART?
This guided observation is meant to encourage you to think about the criteria that can
be used in order to deem an object “art.”
Introduction: In 1926, American Photographer Edward Steichen traveled to France and
purchased the sculpture Bird in Space made by Constantin Brancusi, a Romanian
sculptor then living in France. He brought the sculpture back to the United States. An
American law stated that original artworks were exempt from customs duties. The
customs officials, however, classified the object as being in the category of “Kitchen
Utensils and Hospital Supplies.” Steichen therefore had to pay customs duties on the
sculpture. He filed a lawsuit and the debacle catalyzed a debate over the definition of
art in an era of artistic innovation. The debate revolved around whether the sculpture
resembled something of a bird or not. Although the style of the work is, according to the
definitions used for this course, “abstract,” Brancusi refused to qualify it as such. To
him, the sculpture expressed the essence of a bird and was more truthful than a more
exact representation of the appearance of a bird would have been. Steichen was
eventually reimbursed: it was ruled that Bird in Space was, in fact, a work of art.
The artwork now resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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Terms of Use: The image above is from Flickr account holder imd.paint. This image is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). The
original image can be found here.
What, in the sculpture, suggests the idea of a bird? What do you think the arguments in
opposition and in support of the recognition of Bird in Space as a work of art might have
been? What does this suggest about the way in which we define art? Use the material
from your course and the following questions in order to guide your reflection.
1. About the “birdness” or lack of “birdness” within the sculpture:
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Can you see the relationship between the shape of a bird and the
shape of the sculpture? How do you think the artist might have
arrived at this final shape?
If the sculpture itself does not closely resemble a bird, what are
some of the ideas and feelings that we associate with birds that are
contained within this sculpture? What are the qualities Brancusi is
associating with a bird through this sculpture? Look at the shape of
the sculpture, its lines, the effect of light reflecting on the polished
bronze, etc.
2. Is it Art?
 What do you think the two different sides might have said about the
relationship art must have with reality?
 What do you think the two different sides might have thought about
the role of art?
 What do you think the two sides might have thought about the skills
one must have in order to be an artist?
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