Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the most versatile designers of the 20th century. Born in Los Angeles on November 17th 1904, the son of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and American writer Leonie Gilmour, Noguchi's work uniquely combined Eastern and Western culture. His fascination with sculptural design permeates his entire career as a designer, sculptor, stage designer and landscape architect.
Designer and sculptor Isamu Noguchi
After a brief foray into medicine Noguchi turned to art at an early age, studying at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School in New York before a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1927 took him to Paris where he worked in the studio of Constantin Brâncuși, a formative period for him, during which his reduced, organic-looking formal language developed. Numerous trips to Japan and intensive engagement with traditional pottery, garden art and Zen philosophy had a lasting influence on his design thinking and made him a mediator between cultures.
Noguchi's work moves freely between art and design. Among his most famous furniture designs is the Noguchi Coffee Table (1944), a milestone of American mid-century design, which is now produced in Europe by Vitra. The sculptural coffee table poetically combines form and function. His Akari lamps are equally iconic: handmade from washi paper, they combine Japanese craftsmanship with modern lighting design and give interiors a warm, atmospheric radiance.
The Akari 24N / 25N with Noguchi's signature on the bottom edge
Isamu Noguchi with his Akari lights
In addition to furniture and lighting Isamu Noguchi created large-scale sculptures, designed public spaces and stage sets, including numerous for the choreographer Martha Graham, with whom he enjoyed a lifelong creative collaboration. His works have been exhibited internationally, including at documenta II (1959) and documenta III (1964) in Kassel.
An outstanding testament to his significance is the Isamu Noguchi Museum which he founded himself and opened in New York on May 11, 1985. It is located in a former factory building in Long Island City, Queens, directly across from his studio. Originally conceived as the "Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum," it was the first museum in the United States designed and furnished by a living artist to exclusively present their own work. To this day the Noguchi Museum serves as an archive, exhibition space, and source of inspiration for his diverse oeuvre.
Isamu Noguchi died in New York on December 30, 1988. His design legacy lives on in museums, gardens and homes around the world. His works combine art with everyday life and interior design in a distinctive, poetic way.
..."Everything is sculpture" opined once Isamu Noguchi... The exhibtion Isamu Noguchi in the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, allows one to engage with, reflect on, immerse yourself in Isamu Noguchi's life and work, and thus to better approach your own opinion on Isamu Noguchi's firmly held conviction...
..."Noguchi" at The Barbican Art Gallery, London, England As oft noted, for all that Isamu Noguchi is popularly considered a product designer, of all the things Isamu Noguchi was, he was arguably least of all a product designer... And whatever else Isamu Noguchi was, he was always a sculptor...
...Throughout his numerous lives and careers Isamu Noguchi practised as an artist, set designer, garden designer, furniture designer, lighting designer, etc... Isamu Noguchi's most popularly known work is inarguably his Akari lamps, yet before Akari there came a lamp which in many regards exists more in context of the man and his art than its more famous relations...
...And so by way of a reprise to our recent post celebrating Isamu Noguchi's birthday, we present, with thanks to Stanley Abercrombie's ever excellent and easily recommendable George Nelson biography, George Nelson's recollections on Isamu Noguchi and his role in the creation of the famous Ball Clock...
...One of the best known and most fascinating being without question the sculptor and artist Isamu Noguchi... Following his gradation from high school in 1922 Isamu Noguchi began studying medicine at Columbia University; however, having become fascinated, if not infatuated, by and with sculpture and art in general, he quit his medical studies in 1924 to devote himself fully to sculpture...
