Princess X

An initial version in marble is now in the Sheldon Memorial Art Galleries at the University of Nebraska, whilst two versions as a polished bronze atop a limestone block stands 61.7 cm (2 ft 1⁄4 in) tall (both created between 1915 and 1916) are now in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Musée national d'Art moderne in Paris.

[1][2] The work was originally part of a "notorious scandal" when the Salon des Indépendants removed Princess X from display for its apparent obscene content, after some objected to the sculpture's phallic resemblance.

[3] Brâncuși was reportedly shocked and declared the incident a misunderstanding; he had created Princess X to evoke feminine desire and vanity.

Brâncuși insisted the sculpture had been his rendition of Marie Bonaparte and discussed the comparison of the bronze figure to the princess.

[4] What my art is aiming at, is above all realism; pursue the inner hidden reality, the very essence of objects in their own intrinsic fundamental nature: this is my only preoccupation.The publisher Robert McAlmon's 1925 collection of short stories Distinguished Air is set in the gay culture of 1920s Berlin.