Discovery of a Rare Constantin Brâncuși Notebook in a Private Collection Based on the article published in Le Figaro
Photo credits: AFD, court-appointed experts specializing in counterfeit detection
Discovery of a Rare Constantin Brâncuși Notebook in a Private Collection Based on the article published in Le Figaro (November 9, 2025)
ABU DHABI, ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, November 12, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A rare handwritten notebook by Constantin Brâncuși the French sculptor and draughtsman of Romanian origin has been identified in a private collection, as revealed by Le Figaro.
The notebook contains thirty-nine sketches, nine signatures, and five handwritten notes by the artist. According to the AFD expertise report cited by the newspaper, this body of work represents “a document of notable value for the history of modern art.”
Brâncuși’s notebooks are extremely scarce. Only a few are known today and held in public collections around the world. This one, found among the belongings of an early twentieth-century art collector, documents the artist’s graphic practice.
It is believed to date from 1908 to 1916, a period during which Brâncuși described as both surrealist and minimalist was active in France. The cover bears the address of his Paris studio, 54 rue du Montparnasse.
The nearly forty sketches contained in the notebook appear to be preparatory studies and formal research connected to works such as The Newborn, Sleeping Muse, and The Kiss, all produced in Paris between 1904 and 1957.
The drawings were made with graphite pencil, colored pencil, and India ink the latter being an unusual technique for Brâncuși, mainly used on the reverse of the pages. The notebook’s contents have never been published or exhibited before this discovery.
The ensemble has been entrusted to an international scientific committee for study, to analyze Brâncuși’s creative process through his graphic and sculptural research. The notebook will join a set of twenty-two other drawings by the artist, forming a corpus of sixty-one works.
Authentication of the notebook was carried out by a handwriting and rare-documents expert, who compared the pieces with those preserved at the Centre Pompidou and the Bibliothèque Kandinsky, as well as with Brâncuși’s autograph correspondence.
International recognition
The international reach of this discovery was also highlighted by L’Officiel Monaco in its Art & Culture section, which confirmed the identification of the notebook within a private collection. The article, published in English, echoes the key details reported by Le Figaro the 39 sketches, 9 signatures, and 5 notes while situating the event within a broader cultural and patrimonial context.
Editors, journalists, and art professionals are invited to refer to the original article in Le Figaro under the title “Un carnet rare de Constantin Brancusi découvert dans une collection privée aux Pays-Bas”, as well as to L’Officiel Monaco’s complementary publication, “Discovery of a Previously Unreleased Notebook by Constantin Brâncuși.”
Carelle Moukemaha
AMI Agency
+971 58 512 3707
carelle.moukemaha@sciencespo.fr
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