The rule of three is a familiar notion to us all, whether or not we are conscious of it. Stories have a beginning, middle and an end, and trios in stories are very common, like The Three Musketeers or the The Three Little Pigs. Or games like rock, paper, scissors (I always found marry, shag, kill a bit too harsh for my liking). In comedy, this rule is often used to both establish a pattern and to pay it off.
“Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.” — Dean Wormer from “Animal House” (1978)
“I’d like to recharge my batteries… and shut down the engines… and get myself back to neutral.” — the Vince Vaughn character from “Wedding Crashers” (2005)
Musical chords are made up of three notes (root, third and fifth), and beyond that are considered chord extensions (e. g. Bb9#11) or modifications. In fragrance analysis, we hear-tell of base, heart and top notes, though mostly that’s lost on me (it either smells good or it doesn’t). New heights of pretension are reached with oenophiles as they wax on about traces of tobacco, lychee and leather and with the added bonus of descriptors for both nose and palate. The latter brings in temporal variations of attack, middle and finish — not unlike an arpeggiated musical chord. In any case, there seems to be a magical power to the number 3 that transcends genre and period. These range from from the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the gifts of the Three Magi (gold, frankincense and myrrh) to the three ghosts who visited Ebenezer Scrooge that fateful Christmas Eve to Peter, Paul and Mary and Earth, Wind and Fire to thoroughbred racing with its vaunted Triple Crown and classic win-place-show format.
“Epitaph, Valentine, Paul Revere… I got the horse right here!!” — from the Frank Loesser song “Fugue for Tinhorns” in “Guys and Dolls” (1955)
But it probably harkens back to the orality of story-telling that gives rise to the old teaching adage that humans are generally able to recall three things about a subject or lecture, with a precipitous drop-off in retention beyond. This matches my own experience and perhaps yours, as well. So with that in mind, let’s try to learn three interesting things about Constantin Brancusi (from Wikipedia):
1. Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957) was a Romanian born sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. He was a pioneer in modernism and has been called the patriarch of modern sculpture.
2. He worked for only two months under Auguste Rodin, whom he greatly admired. His explanation for leaving was simple: “Nothing can grow under big trees.”
3. He courted controversy with his work titled “Princess X” (1915-16) — an abstract sculpture that reportedly depicts Princess Marie Bonaparte (great grandniece of the Emperor Napoleon), a beautiful and vain woman who also happened to be a psychoanalyst and friend of Sigmund Freud (again, three things: id, ego, superego). She is known for conducting research into female sexuality and frigidity, prompted by her own lack of fulfillment in the boudoir. The sculpture has a smooth C-shape meant to mimic the curve of a woman’s torso who is gazing upon herself. Unfortunately, it also looks much like an erect penis and was thus removed as an object of scandal from the Salon des Indépendants . Brancusi was shocked about the misunderstanding and claimed to be making a comment of feminine desire and vanity… though the judges said he failed to account for the battery compartment at bottom-rear.
“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.” — Constantin Brancusi
Great Exudations 