IIn 1907, Brancusi worked with Auguste Rodin for but a month by some accounts, and several years in others. The former timeline seems more believable through the eyes of Carmen Gimenez, the author of Constantin Brancusi; The Essence of Things. She explained that while Rodin was respected by Brancusi, his resolve and respect for his own work as a direct competitor was far more apparent in his actions. While working with Rodin, Brancusi was carving marble using a pointing machine to replicate the clay models created by Rodin. However, Brancusi’s style was far more exploratory and hands-on than this, choosing to carve his figures directly from blocks of stone.

We find inspiration in Brancusi’s work because of his insistence on self-reliance through his creative process. Instead of creating clay models, using a pointing machine, and having craftsmen carve replicas of his clay models out of marble, Brancusi preferred to work with the material himself, grinding, chipping, and splitting each piece of stone that was delivered to his workshop. Only he could find the image through cooperation with the material. He envisaged the form within the block; he didn’t impose it. This practice, called direct carving, was unique for his time, and it would become the differentiating factor that made Brancusi’s work so special. Similar to sketching, direct carving produces artwork that is an intrinsic representation of the artist's signature, ultimately capturing the feeling that the artist is looking for when they look at it.

However, The National School of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania, where Constantin Brancusi studied, stated that stone carving was not taught there. According to Gimenez, when looking at the work of his past friends, one in particular named Gheoghe Luchian who was killed in service during World War I, there are clear displays of a similar style of carving. This evidence led her to the conclusion that direct carving was more widespread than anyone thought during this period in France, and that it was an exploration undertaken with friends in informal creative settings rather than through formal instruction. This explains the uneven development of Brancusi’s early style.