10 things about Isamu Noguchi

Throughout his life, Noguchi asked himself the fundamental question "What is sculpture?”. His answers varied, but shared one constant: any material or idea that engages space and invites human experience is sculpture.

As early as the 1930s, Noguchi advocated for socially engaged and accessible sculpture. He believed art should relate to everyday life and carry social meaning: “Without public enjoyment the very meaning of art is in question”.

Noguchi’s never-realized 1933 design Play Mountain was a sculptural playground: a landscape within the city of Manhattan with slides, water features and a racing track. To Noguchi, in retrospect, this design was born out of the sudden realization that the earth itself is actually a sculpture.

For Noguchi, space wasn’t simply a backdrop but an active part of the artwork. For him, sculpture is “a relationship of forms in space.” A sculptor is the one who “orders and animates space, gives it meaning”.

One of his most visionary plans was a giant face carved into the earth’s surface, visible from space. The pyramidal nose of this ‘face of earth’ alone was to be nearly two kilometres long. This design expressed his desire to connect sculpture to the universe.

Noguchi worked closely with choreographer Martha Graham, one of the founders of contemporary dance. Their collaboration resulted in more than twenty dance productions, for which he designed sets that merged with movement, rhythm and ritual.

His iconic Akari lamps, made from washi paper and bamboo, are light sculptures meant to bring joy. They combine traditional Japanese craftsmanship and modern design, and fulfil Noguchi’s goal of making sculpture accessible to a wide audience.

To Noguchi, a garden was “three-dimensional arrangement of forms and shapes in a sculptural group” His garden for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris established his fame in this domain.

During multiple stays in Japan, he discovered the expressive power of clay. His ceramic works combine abstraction, traditional forms and personal expression - as seen in his self-portrait Face Dish.

From furniture to fountains, from monuments to playgrounds - art and life were inseparably linked for Noguchi. His body of work reflects a lifelong search for identity, form and meaning.