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Isamu Noguchi - 1904 - 1988
Bauhaus Architect and Furniture Designer
Designer of Bauhaus and Modern Classic Design Furniture
Isamu Noguchi was born to Isamu Noguchi and Leonie Gilmore on November 17, 1904, in Los Angeles,
California. His father, a Japanese poet and authority on art, and his mother, an American writer,
were never married. In 1906 he moved with his family to Japan, where his father married a Japanese woman,
and Noguchi remained with his mother until he was thirteen years old. In 1918, his mother sent him back
to the United States to finish his education. He went to public school in La Porte, Indiana, graduating
in 1922. He became an apprentice (a person working to learn a trade) to Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941),
the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, who told Noguchi he was not talented enough to be a sculptor.
Thus, in 1923, Noguchi enrolled as a premedical student at Columbia University in New York City.
In 1925 Noguchi, at the urging of his mother, enrolled at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School in New
York City to study sculpture. Here his talents were recognized and encouraged. Noguchi also attended
the East Side Art School in New York City. In 1927 he won a scholarship and moved to Paris, France,
where he was an apprentice to abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876–1957) who became a strong
influence on Noguchi's art. Noguchi felt that this art form was one that was well suited to his way
of expressing himself in his work.
Noguchi lived in Japan for six months in 1930, working with clay and studying gardens. There he
realized land could be sculpture that could be put to public use. In the
1930s he made art reflecting his social concerns, including a cement
mural, 72 feet long, in Mexico City, Mexico, narrating Mexican history.
In 1935 he began making stage sets for dancer Martha Graham (1893–1991),
a partnership that would continue for fifty years. Throughout his career,
Noguchi also worked with other choreographers (people who develop the
dance steps and dances used in performances). In 1938 he made his first
sculpture in stainless steel, a symbol of freedom of the press at the
entrance to the Associated Press building in Rockefeller Center, New York
City.
Noguchi enjoyed occasional exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe,
and Asia. Among his important group shows was the exhibition of "14 Americans"
at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, in 1946. A return trip to Japan in
1949 prompted Noguchi to begin direct carving in stone. He also traveled throughout
the world, and his work was purchased by many important museums. His only marriage,
to actress Yoshiko Yamaguchi, lasted from 1951 to 1955. In 1968 the Whitney Museum
of American Art sponsored a show featuring his work, and in 1978 the Walker Art
Center exhibited his show Imaginary Landscapes.
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