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Isamu Noguchi

American artist known for sculpture, furniture, and public works.

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He created stage sets for Martha Graham, Akari light sculptures, and furniture that remain in production.[1] From the 1920s onward, Isamu Noguchi worked as an American artist, furniture designer, and landscape architect.[1]

Life and work

After high school he became an apprentice to sculptor Gutzon Borglum in Connecticut.[2][3] In 1927 he arrived in Paris and became Constantin Brâncuși's assistant for seven months.[4] In 1951 he redesigned traditional paper lanterns in Gifu, calling them "Akari light sculptures".[5][6] Constantin Brâncuși directed Noguchi to Romany Marie's café in Greenwich Village, where Noguchi encountered Buckminster Fuller; they subsequently worked together on creating a model of Fuller's Dymaxion car.[7][8]

In May 1942, Noguchi went to the Poston war relocation camp and was the sole person there who had volunteered to be interned.[9]

What the cited sources add

The Noguchi Museum chronology records that Noguchi's father gave him the name "Isamu" and that the family lived together only occasionally.[3] The same source notes that Noguchi learned Japanese woodworking techniques by assisting a carpenter.[3] Haber also reports that Noguchi produced a clay model for Fuller's Dymaxion Car in 1929.[8] The chronology records that Noguchi's mother urged him to enroll in an evening sculpture class at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School.[3]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brenson, "Isamu Noguchi, the Sculptor, Dies at 84", The New York Times, December 31, 1988 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Noguchi, 1968. p. 14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. "Chronology", The Noguchi Museum. facts only, no text reused. noguchi.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Duus, 2004. p. 114 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "History of Akari Light Sculptures", Noguchi Museum; Rawsthorn, "Isamu Noguchi's lamps got art and practicality on the same wavelength", The New York Times, 14 July 2008; "What is Sculpture?", Noguchi Museum (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Reif, "Noguchi's Lamps: Not Just for Light But Floating", The New York Times, 10 November 1977; Galvão, "Around the world in 40 designs: The best furniture, country by country", Monocle, 22 October 2025; Pasori, "Why the Noguchi Aesthetic Has Never Been More Relevant", Architectural Digest, 19 May 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Robert Schulman. Romany Marie: The Queen of Greenwich Village (pp. 109–110). Louisville: Butler Books, 2006. .; "Interview with Isamu Noguchi", Conducted November 7, 1973, by Paul Cummings at Noguchi's studio in Long Island City, Queens. Smithsonian Archives of American Art; Grace Glueck, "The Architect and the Sculptor: A Friendship of Ideas", The New York Times, May 19, 2006; John Haber, "Before Buckyballs", Review of Noguchi Museum's Best of Friends exhibition (2006); John Haskell, "Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi", Kraine Gallery en.wikipedia.org
  8. John Haber, "Before Buckyballs", Review of Noguchi Museum's Best of Friends exhibition (2006). facts only, no text reused. haberarts.com
  9. Wikipedia, "Isamu Noguchi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Duus, 2004. p. 170 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Isamu Noguchi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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