Brancusi pieces kept in Romania

Two famous sculptures by Romanian-born artist Constantin Brancusi won’t be shown in London and New York because of fears of ownership claims once they leave the country, museum and government officials said Monday.

Romania’s government said it wouldn’t permit “Kiss” and “Torso” to be exhibited in London, a spokesman for the Tate Modern said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. Separately, Culture Ministry spokesman Bogdan Bruma confirmed the two sculptures wouldn’t be part of the exhibition.

The two spoke after Culture Minister Razvan Theodorescu told the Romanian daily Evenimentul Zilei that Romanians living abroad were claiming both sculptures. He said it was impossible to insure the sculptures against those seeking return of their property.

Entitled “The Essence of Things,” the Tate Modern show opens Thursday and runs until May 23, when it will travel to New York’s Guggenheim Museum. There will be 34 works, most coming from the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the United States, the museum spokesman said.