One of the most influential artists of the modern period was Marcel Duchamp. When he presented Fountain in 1917 to the Independents show in New York, he was ultimately challenging the way in which his audience should view this work. The object itself was secondary to the idea that was being expressed. Wollheim states

"...Duchamps ready-mades introduce into the domain of art an increasingly wide and eclectic category of objects that cannot be easily differentiated from objects in the non-art world"⁷.

Duchamp reduced this piece to its very core by way of taking a ready-made, everyday object, rotating it ninety degrees and placing it atop a pedestal. This fundamental core is a question of what is it that we require art to represent and what makes a work of art "art"? In exhibiting Fountain, Duchamp required that the viewer actively contemplate the idea behind the work. The essence of the work, although derived from a visual experience, is not necessarily seen by the eye but arrived at through inquiry. The significance of Fountain as a work of art lies in its simplicity. The answers to the inquiry can be so obvious that they are easily missed. In this case, the answers are the questions themselves.

One of the many artists that can be associated with the 1960s minimal art genre was Carl Andre. He describes his work in terms of art of association and isolation.

"...The art of association is when the image is associated with things other than what the artwork itself is. Art of isolation has its own focus with a minimum association with things not itself ...My work is the exact opposite of the art of association. I try to reduce the image-making function of my work to the least degree" (Baker 1988 p.138).

Even though Cycladic figurative sculpture is associated with human form, I would categorise it somewhere in-between Andre's descriptions of art of association and isolation. For example, in describing the Louros figure, its physical make up could be seen as being secondary to the essence that it represents. Although it is a representation of human form, it has been reduced to a minimum and prominence given to its essence. Under this description, it is representative of the human spirit, therefore its association is in part with human form, but is predominantly with itself.

Brancusi used the function of reduction in his pursuit of a minimalist outcome. His ideas of what were real, were not of the physical representation of an object but of what was important about the object. Brancusi is quoted as saying

"...what is real is not the external form but the essence of things. Starting from this truth it is impossible for anyone to express anything essentially real by imitating its exterior surface." (Chilver, 1998 p.89).

Brancusi's notion of reducing the object of his interest to its essence is what we identify with when contemplating his work. It is the unseen, the entity that we know is there but is not always recognisable through analysis of the formal elements. With Brancusi's Bird in Space (plate 16), we see the essence of the bird. This series of sculptures are not a reproduction of a particular bird or even a specific breed⁸ , but of what we see as the essential quality of birds in general, that of flight rather than the formal elements such as wings and feathers.

In describing spirit in modern art works, it is appropriate to refer to its expression as coming directly from the artist who made the work of art. The other important factor is the original object or entity that informed the artist in the making of the work of art. There is an infusion of the spirit of the artist with the spirit of the informing object. A relationship is conceived and the strength of the expression is established. For example, Brancusi established this expression showing the essence of himself, bearing his own spirit in coalescence with the essence of the object of interest. We can recognise this quality in Bird in Space. It has been pared back to the extent of expressing firstly, the vitality of his spirit and the spirit of the bird that informed the work. The physical make-up of the sculpture is a vehicle, and although an integral part of the sculpture, is secondary to this expression of spirit.

The strength of simplicity is further exemplified in Brancusi's Endless Column (plate 17) installed at Tirgu-Jiu, Romania in 1937. It shows absolute simplicity, while alluding to a more complex structure behind its formality. The strong verticality can be considered to mimic the human pose and thus is suggestive of the vitality of life. There is nothing blocking the progressive rise upward, yet it is self-contained within the unity of its parts. This is reminiscent of the verticality also evident in the folded arm figures and indeed the Violin figures of the Cycladic period. The long conical neck of the Violin figures and the vertical pose of the standing figurative sculptures give these forms their meditative calmness and provide a frame for their expression of essence. ...continue on to the 'conclusion'