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Active from 1904 in Paris, France Note: Born 21 February 1876; died 16 March 1957. Brancusi was trained as a sculptor in Romania before moving to Paris in 1904. There he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and exhibited at the Salon d'Automne. In 1905 Brancusi was working intensively in photography as a means of documenting his sculptures, and was helped and advised by the surrealist artist Man Ray. Brancusi quickly became accepted as a member of the Paris avant-garde, as his sculptures departed from the 19th century Western trend toward naturalism and eroticism, and were based instead on non-Western and so-called 'primitive' sculpture. In 1914 Alfred Stieglitz exhibited Brancusi's sculptures at his Photo-Secession gallery in New York, earning Brancusi an international reputation. His sculptures from this period were of two distinct types: elegant, abstract marble or bronze forms, such as the 'bird' sculptures based on a Romanian legend, and rougher carvings made of wood, like his series of 'endless columns'. Brancusi was also known for paying special attention to the bases on which his sculptures were displayed, believing that the pedestal was part of the sculpture itself. He is often referred to as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. Romanian sculptor.