Illustrious Romanian Sculptor’s Heir Faces Challenge Over Copyright ‘Censorship’

Copyright over Brancusi's works belongs to Theodor Nicol, a Canadian citizen of Romanian origin and nephew of the couple Natalia Dumitresco and Alexandre Istrati - painter friends of Brancusi, who had no legitimate children and made them his heirs in his will.

Through his legal representatives at the Romanian Society for the Collective Management of Copyright in the Visual Arts Sector, VISARTA, Nicol has prevented the municipality of Targu Jiu, the town in southwest Romania that hosts some of the artist's most emblematic works, from selling souvenirs or informative leaflets of the sculptor. 

"You can't make a mockery of his oeuvre by producing kitsch," VISARTA's head, Irina Florescu, said in 2019 about the refusal to allow commercialization of Brancusi souvenirs. Nicol is registered with its sister organisation in France.

The society has also vetoed movies and books on Brancusi from using images of the so-called Targu Jiu Ensemble, which comprises The Table of Silence, The Gate of the Kiss and the famous Endless Column -  and others of his works.

Visitors attend an exhibit on Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) at the Centre Pompidou in Malaga, southern Spain, 20 March 2018. The exhibition runs from 20 March until 24 June 2018 and offers a perspective on the artist's versatile career. Archive photo: EPA-EFE/Daniel Perez

"In recent years, Nicol has become a master, rather than a heir, of Brancusi," said the author, critic and art historian Pavel Susara who failed to obtain VISARTA's permission to use images of his work in a book on the sculptor he published - pictureless -  in 2020, after two years of unfruitful contacts.

Negotiations broke when Susara, who says he had previously provided thorough...