In response to:

The Shape of Things to Come from the August 21, 1969 issue

To the Editors:

In his discussion of my Brancusi: A Study of the Sculpture (August 21), James Ackerman says that I “was a student of the artist.” Not so. If I had been, my name would surely have been included in one of the book’s appendixes where I list “associates, students and assistants of Brancusi.”

A small error, but significant of Dr. Ackerman’s neglect of the purpose of the book and its apparatus. I promised formal analysis and close examination. He criticizes me for not elaborating the philosophical, historical and psychological setting in which the sculpture was produced. This is like complaining that a microscope doesn’t afford a good view of the moon.

Sidney Geist

New York City

This Issue

November 20, 1969