United States Customs officials opened the crates and uncovered 20 mysterious disks, eggs, and flame-like forms of carved wood, polished metal, or smooth marble. One work in particular left them dumbfounded: a thin, 4 1/4-foot-tall piece of shiny yellow bronze with a gently tapering bulge called Bird in Space. It didn’t look like a bird to the officials, so they refused to exempt it from customs duties as a work of art. They imposed the standard tariff for manufactured objects of metal: 40 percent of the sale price, or $240 (about $2,400 in today’s dollars).

Duchamp was indignant, as were Brancusi, already in New York to prepare for the Brummer show, and Edward Steichen, the photographer and Brancusi admirer who had bought the Bird and expected to take possession of it after the exhibit. News of the customs decision quickly made headlines. The Romanian-born Brancusi was known in New York: He had made a name for himself at the Armory Show of 1913, where his daring minimalist pieces had caused a small scandal and won him admirers among well-known collectors. Now articles in Art News and several newspapers took turns attacking Brancusi’s "meaningless sculptures" or defending his visionary simplicity.

Under pressure, the customs office agreed to reconsider its decision. In the meantime, it released Bird in Space and other sculptures, on bond and under the classification "Kitchen Utensils and Hospital Supplies," so they could be exhibited at the Brummer Gallery and then at the Arts Club in Chicago.

continues fascinatingly at Legal Affairs.