The Modernist Portrait That Set Constantin Brancusi's Auction Record

Constantin Brancusi, La Jeune Fille Sophistiquée (portrait De Nancy Cunard) (1932) sold for $71m at Christie's in New York on May 15, 2018.

The unique bronze on a carved marble base, conceived by Brancusi in 1928 and cast in 1932, was acquired directly from the artist. It had not been traded before it was consiged at Christie's

Brancusi first met Nancy Cunard in 1923 in Paris through the Dada poet Tristan Tzara, one of her many lovers. The unconventional heiress and writer struck the Romanian artist as the very embodiment of the liberated modern women.

While Cunard inspired the work, she did not pose for Brancusi, although they may have had an affair. She was initially unaware that he had sculpted a figure in wood and then in bronze that bore her name. When she saw the works, she found them “both utterly unlike what I take to be my ‘line,’ but exquisite things”.

The bronze and wooden Cunard sculptures were first shown in Brancusi's solo show in 1933 in New York, which was curated by Marcel Duchamp, no less. In 1950, Brancusi presented the wooden version as a gift to Duchamp's second wife, Alexina “Teeny” Sattler. In 1955, Brancusi sold the bronze Cunard to American newlyweds in Paris, Frederick and Elizabeth Stafford, who were keen collectors of Modern art.

The sale beat Brancusi's previous auction record by $13.63m, a 23% rise. His previous record was set by La Muse Endormie (1909), which sold for $57.37m at Christie's on May 15, 2017. The work had not been traded before.

A Brief History of Brancusi at Auction