Study #16

Music Shell in Sapporo, Japan, 1988 — *Music Shell* in Sapporo, Japan, 1988

Over his lifetime Isamu Noguchi created sculptures, gardens, furniture, ceramics, architecture, and set designs. His aesthetic was subtle and bold, traditional and modern, and utilized a wide range of materials, including stainless steel, marble, cast iron, balsa wood, bronze, sheet aluminum, basalt, granite, and water.

Isamu Noguchi by Jorge Lewinski, 1968 — *Isamu Noguchi* by Jorge Lewinski, 1968

Noguchi was born in Los Angles, to an American mother and Japanese father. He lived in Japan until the age of thirteen, and then moved to Indiana. He went to Columbia University, where he was pre-med, while taking evening sculpture classes and mentored with Onorio Ruotolo (an Italian sculptor who founded the Leonardo da Vinci Art School as a way to provide arts education for New York's immigrant community). He eventually left university to become a full-time academic sculptor. He traveled extensively throughout his life and later had studios in both Japan and New York.

In 1927, with a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Noguchi went to Paris and worked in his idol Constantin Brancusi’s studio. Inspired by the older artist’s forms and philosophy, Noguchi turned to modernism and abstraction, infusing his highly finished pieces with a lyrical and emotional expressiveness and softness.

Paris Abstraction, 1927–1928 — *Paris Abstraction*, 1927–1928

Noguchi’s work was not well-known in the United States until 1940, when he completed a large-scale sculpture symbolizing the freedom of the press, which was commissioned in 1938 for the Associated Press Building in Rockefeller Center, New York City. This was the first of what would eventually become numerous celebrated public works around the world, ranging from playgrounds to plazas, gardens to fountains, and all reflecting his belief in the social significance of sculpture.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the backlash against Japanese Americans in the United States had a dramatic effect on Noguchi and motivated him to become a political activist. In 1942, he co-founded Nisei Writers and Artists Mobilization for Democracy, a group dedicated to raising awareness of the patriotism of Japanese Americans. He also voluntarily entered the Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston) incarceration camp in Arizona where he remained for six months. His ideals and bruised feelings are vividly reflected in his works from this period.

Noguchi was an avid collaborationist, and embraced his works accessibility. Besides public spaces and pieces for everyone to interact with, he loved the idea of mass-producing his designs. In 1937, he created a Bakelite intercom for the Zenith Radio Corporation, and in 1947, his glass-topped table was produced by Herman Miller. This - and his Akari light sculptures which were initially developed in 1951 using traditional Japanese materials - are still being produced today.

California Scenario in Costa Mesa, 1979-82 — *California Scenario* in Costa Mesa, 1979-82

Integrating Japanese aesthetics with Western modernism, Noguchi pursued a lifetime of artistic experimentation that transcended the boundaries of art, design, theater, and architecture. He fully realized his belief that sculpture should shape space and create accessible, iconic design objects.

“I am always looking for a new way of saying the same thing.” - Isamu Noguchi

Public Works.