Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer, and landscape architect. He worked for sixty years, from the 1920s until he died in 1988. He was born on November 17, 1904, and passed away on December 30, 1988.

Noguchi is best known for his sculptures and public art. He also designed special stage sets for the famous dancer Martha Graham. In addition to his artwork, he made beautiful light sculptures called Akari light sculptures and unique furniture pieces. Many of his furniture designs are still made and sold today.

You can see examples of Noguchi's work at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York City, as well as in many other museums around the world. His creations are still enjoyed by people everywhere.

Early life (1904–1922)

Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles. His father, Yone Noguchi, was a famous Japanese poet. His mother, Léonie Gilmour, was an American writer. When Yone left for Japan, Léonie and Isamu moved there in 1907. They moved because people were not friendly to Japanese people after a war.

In Japan, Isamu grew up with his mother and moved often. His mother helped him be creative. She let him help design their garden and learn from a local carpenter. Later, Isamu went back to the U.S. to finish school in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. He then moved to LaPorte and graduated from high school in 1922. At this time, people called him "Sam Gilmour."

Early artistic career (1922–1927)

After high school, Isamu Noguchi wanted to become an artist. His family sent him to Connecticut to work with a famous sculptor named Gutzon Borglum, who created Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Noguchi helped with arranging horses and modeling for statues, but decided sculpture might not be the best choice.

He then moved to New York City and began studying to become a doctor at Columbia University. However, he met new people who encouraged him to keep pursuing art. In 1924, he started taking art classes at night and soon held his first exhibition of plaster and terracotta works. He decided to focus fully on art and changed his last name to Noguchi.

Later, Noguchi applied for a special grant to study in Paris and travel through Asia. Even though he was a bit younger than usual, he received the grant and looked forward to exciting adventures ahead.

Early travels (1927–1937)

In April 1927, Isamu Noguchi arrived in Paris and met author Robert McAlmon. McAlmon introduced him to artist Constantin Brâncuși. Brâncuși let Noguchi work in his studio for seven months. During this time, Noguchi began learning about stone sculpture, a new way to create art.

Noguchi made one sculpture in his first year in Paris but created many more in his second year, working with Italian sculptor Mateo Hernandes. He then traveled to India but could not stay longer with his Guggenheim Fellowship. In February 1929, he went to New York City, where he met Buckminster Fuller and worked on projects like modeling Fuller’s Dymaxion car.

After showing his Paris sculptures in his first solo exhibition, Noguchi began making portrait busts to earn money. His busts of famous people, including Martha Graham, got good reviews. He earned enough to travel to Asia. He studied painting in China and pottery in Japan, getting ideas from local gardens and old clay figures. He returned to New York during the Great Depression and kept creating sculptures and paintings, but there were not many buyers. He also designed sets for Martha Graham’s performances and worked on public art projects, though many were not accepted at the time. Later, he traveled to Mexico, where he made a large political mural in Mexico City. During this time, he met the famous artist Frida Kahlo and became friends with her.

Further career in the United States (1937–1948)

Noguchi returned to New York in 1937 and began creating many new designs. He made the Zenith Radio Nurse, an early baby monitor that is now kept in museums. He also designed sculptures, including a fountain for the Ford Motor Company at the 1939 New York World's Fair and a large stainless steel sculpture for the Associated Press building at the Rockefeller Center.

During World War II, Noguchi helped Japanese Americans who were treated unfairly. He visited a camp in Poston, Arizona to help improve living conditions. Later, he returned to New York and kept making art, inspired by the surrealist movement. He created famous furniture, like the Noguchi table, and designed sets for theater performances. His work became well-known in the New York art world.

Bollingen Fellowship and life in Japan (1948–1952)

After his friend Arshile Gorky died in 1948, Isamu Noguchi asked for a Bollingen Fellowship to travel and learn about public spaces. This was for a book about places where people relax, but it became an exhibition and a book later, with help from his assistant Bonnie Rychlak.

When he stayed in Japan after the war, Noguchi was photographed in Nagoya by Kansuke Yamamoto. His photo was in the Shintōkai Shimbun newspaper on July 15, 1950.

In 1951, Noguchi visited Gifu, a town famous for its traditional paper lanterns. The mayor asked him to help make these lanterns modern because electricity had changed things. Noguchi redesigned them to use light bulbs and made their shapes more beautiful with wire. He called these new lights "Akari light sculptures" and said the light was like sunlight through paper shoji. Noguchi once said, “All you need to start a home are a room, a tatami mat, and an Akari,” inspired by writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s book In Praise of Shadows.

Later years (1952–1988)

In his later years, Isamu Noguchi became even more famous. He put his big artworks in many important cities around the world.

He was married to Yoshiko Yamaguchi, a famous singer and actress, from 1952 to 1957. From 1959 until he passed away, he had a close friendship with Priscilla Morgan, who helped protect his work after he was gone.

Noguchi made designs for a famous play called King Lear in 1955. He was honored by groups such as the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1962 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1971. In 1986, he showed his Akari light sculptures at the Venice Biennale for the United States. The next year, he received the National Medal of Arts.

Noguchi passed away from pneumonia in 1988 at the age of 84. The New York Times praised him as a talented artist whose work connected Eastern and Western styles.

Notable works

Isamu Noguchi made many famous artworks and designs. Some of his well-known pieces are sculptures, furniture, and gardens in cities around the world. You can see his works in places like Honolulu, New York City, and Paris.

His last project was a big park in Sapporo, Japan. He passed away before it was done, but the park opened to the public in 2005.

Honors

Isamu Noguchi was honored for his wonderful work. In 1982, he received the Edward MacDowell Medal for his important work in art. In 1987, he was given the National Medal of Arts. In 1988, the Japanese government gave him the Order of the Sacred Treasure.

In 2004, the US Postal Service made a special stamp to honor Noguchi.

Legacy

The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum keeps and shows the work of Isamu Noguchi. It gets help from many groups.

Exhibitions of Noguchi’s work have happened all over the world. In 1994, the Fundación Juan March in Madrid had the first big show of his work in Spain. In 2016–2017, the Smithsonian American Art Museum showed pieces of his work from over six decades. In 2025, the Clark Art Institute will show his work in an exhibition called Isamu Noguchi: Landscapes of Time. Starting in February 2026, the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum will explore Noguchi’s love for New York City in an exhibition called Noguchi’s New York. Later in 2026, from April to August, the High Museum of Art will present Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer”, showing many of his designs for the first time in many years.