Torso of a Young Man

There are some artists so significant that the very mention of their name is enough to invoke an entire era. These are often the artists who presided over great changes in the arts: times at which old standards fell out of favour and new approaches became the norm; where what was once accepted became outmoded, and what was once unthinkable is realised.

In the world of sculpture, one of the artists to have achieved this level of significance is Constantin Brancusi. Constantin Brancusi first made his name in the early years of the twentieth century, a time of immense cultural upheaval in all quarters. It was a time when old assumptions that art should be representational were being overturned, and a new world of more abstract and subjective art was being created: art that played with the viewer's expectations and reactions.

Torso of a Young Man is one of Constantin Brancusi's more provocative pieces. The sculpture consists of a wooden cylinder which, towards its bottom, splits into two shorter cylinders. Only in the most abstract sense can it be taken as representing a human form. And yet, at the same time, its suggestions are unmistakable. With three simple geometric shapes, Constantin Brancusi has successfully evoked a torso and pelvis. What seems like a meaningless shape at the top has, by the time it reaches its bottom, achieved a form that conjures up all manner of connotations within the viewer's imagination.

It is a piece that challenges the viewer, that asks us to examine how our minds work. The pelvic suggestions of the shape have obvious taboo connotations - and yet, at the same time, what we are looking at is ultimately an abstract shape; any connotations we draw from it are those which we bring to the sculpture ourselves. This effect taps into Constantin Brancusi's main legacy as a sculptor: he demonstrated once and for all that sculpture does not need to be straightforwardly representational to have a profound effect on its audience.

Many art-lovers prefer to choose the most provocative pieces to put on display in their homes. If this description fits you, then perhaps a print showing Torso of a Young Man by Constantin Brancusi will be the ideal purchase. This is the sort of image that demands attention from those around it, that provokes discussion, that encourages anyone in the household to examine their assumptions and instinctive responses to art. There are many different artistic prints on sale around the world, reproducing art from many different eras and movements; but few can be as provocative and taboo-breaking as a print depicting Torso of a Young Man by Constantin Brancusi.