Isamu Noguchi: The Artist and Designer
A seminal figure of 20th-century art and design, modern artist Isamu Noguchi explored the meaning of sculpture throughout his career. Bridging his Japanese heritage with American upbringing, Noguchi has always lived in a liminal space, an in-between. His art explores this space— the tensions and possibilities within it and the balance dichotomies find here.
I think that there’s a lot we can learn from Isamu Noguchi. As both artist and designer, Japanese and American, Noguchi navigated these dichotomies through his playful mindset and bias to experimentation. These led him to embark on conceptual projects that challenged conventions of sculpture as fine art.
“I could never believe that the experience of sculpture had to be restricted to vision only. The making and ownership of art could also be beyond personal possession—a common and free experience. ”
Photo by Mark Gulezian/NPG. Copyright: National Portrait Gallery/Smithsonian.
Taken in 2019.
About Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi was born in 1904 in California. His formative years were spent in between Japan and the United States. Later in his life, he studied sculpture under modern artist Constantin Brâncuși. Known for focusing on shapes, Romanian sculptor Brancusi introduced Noguchi to the quiet power of simple forms. From there, Noguchi traveled extensively around Asia to learn different forms and techniques.
When WWII broke out, Noguchi struggled with his identity as he tried to make sense of the war between Japan and the US. Noguchi returned to Japan once the war was over and lived there until his death in 1988. While he was fascinated by traditional Japanese crafts and Japan’s cultural reverence to nature, Noguchi was also drawn to Zen Buddhist idea of nothingness. He explored nothingness throughout his career through sculpture, constantly questioning if there is meaning beyond what is in front of us or if we should accept things as they are.
Play Sculpture (c. 1965-80) (fabricated 2017)
Photo: Nicholas Knight. ©INFGM / ARS
Playgrounds were inspiring to the artist. They’re where children creatively engage with their surroundings. Kids can run, touch, and feel the objects around them. Playgrounds are usually full of simple shapes, such as triangles, circles, and squares, that are easy for kids to understand and interact with. There’s no questioning what to do or how to use the objects in a playground.
In Play Sculpture, Noguchi brings art into the everyday by embracing a playful mindset. For this work, viewers of all ages are highly encouraged to interact with this sculpture. In doing so, he uses this idea of play as a way to appreciate fine art. This work speaks to Noguchi’s vision of sculpture: Understanding that there are more ways to appreciate sculpture than through sight alone.
Noguchi once wrote, “Brancusi said that when an artist stopped being a child, he would stop being an artist” (A Sculptor’s World, 1968). Once artists stop embracing this playful attitude, form, function, and custom take precedence over creativity.
Photo: Katherine Abbott. ©INFGM / ARS
My friend Mario interacting with Play Sculpture. Taken in 2019.
Akari Project (1950s-1980s)
Photo: Vitra.
While he was in Japan, Noguchi witnessed craftsmen create lamps and umbrellas using mulberry bark paper and bamboo. When he returned to his studio, Noguchi used the same materials and methods to design his iconic akari light sculptures. The word akari combines two meanings of light: illumination and weightlessness. When lit, his sculptures give a warm glow to any room.
To Noguchi, akari was always an ongoing project. He iterated these light sculptures until his demise in 1988. To the him, akari was always an ongoing project. Noguchi embraced iteration, as he was constantly prototyping with new materials, shapes, and sizes. Experimenting with different ways to display the light sculptures at home and in art spaces.
Photo: Noguchi Museum.
Photo: Noguchi Museum.
What’s interesting is that the akari light sculptures are both art and design objects. Even so, determining whether it is more of an art object or a design object depends on how it is being used. For instance, when they’re displayed in a museum as part of an exhibit, the akari light sculptures seem like they’re lofty art pieces that require additional contemplation. When they’re displayed at home, they’re nothing more than a beautiful light fixture. And yet, dwelling too much on the meaning of the akari light sculpture would mean that we’d be ascribing meaning to an inanimate object.
In the end, we can accept them for what they are: livable sculptures that effortlessly blend function and beauty.
Water Stone (1986)
Installation view of Water Stone (1986) by Isamu Noguchi. Photo: The MET.
The Water Stone was commissioned by The MET in 1987. In Japanese architecture, natural elements are often integrated into the design. In a similar vein, Noguchi brings nature, the rocks and water, into a man-made structure, a building.
He pays tribute to Japanese belief system Shinto by using natural materials from the Isuzu river. This river flows near Ise Shrine, a historical and holy Shinto shrine in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Sitting at the center of the garden is a basalt rock with a quiet fountain flowing horizontally from its center. In this work, the water isn’t forced to spurt out from the rock. Instead, it flows slowly from the depths of the rock. Here, Noguchi finds balance in dichotomies: nature vs modern and Japanese vs American. In this busy environment, Water Stone invites you to sit, breathe, and think of nothing.
Takeaways
Our need to categorize and organize limits our creativity. This isn't a new thought. But I do wonder if we tend to categorize and organize people and things because we're afraid of limitlessness. When discussing free will, existential philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre says that the moment you realize you have free will, and that you can actually do what you want to do whenever you want to, you'll feel like fainting. It's dizzying. It's uncomfortable. I'd imagine feeling this way if design had no limits.
Noguchi Museum. Taken in 2019.
With a career spanning six decades, Noguchi’s playful attitude, knack for experimentation, and philosophies enabled him to create sculptures that encouraged us to think in new ways. Despite this, Noguchi also invites us to simply experience our surroundings for what they are. There’s no one way to create or appreciate sculpture. Perhaps this can also be said about design.
This article was originally written for Summit Media’s Design Team’s blog.