Brenner-Brenner-Brenner-Brenner

Michael Brenner, American sculptor, confidant of Gertrude Stein and her Parisian circle, sometime American dealer for Matisse, Picasso, Juan Gris and others, publisher of Stein’s earliest writing, is one of the great twentieth Century artists who fell, for uncertain reasons, through the cracks of art history. In this book his sketches suggest his sculptural goals and, perhaps, provide insight to the man himself. Joseph Brenner, chemist, writer, poet and philosopher, the son and alter ego of the artist poetically defines the problem of knowing another even when closely and patrimoniously joined. His poetry reflects his view of the world as a consequence of life’s realities. We find here that the artefacts of individuals can lead only to incomplete knowledge of a person. Yet, is it not through artefacts that we claim to know civilizations?