Isamu Noguchi
born 1904, Los Angeles, CA, died 1988
worked in New York and Japan
Cross Beam, 1970, stone, 25" x 55" x 37", Lent by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.
The art of Isamu Noguchi, a towering figure in the history of twentieth-century sculpture, underwent many stylistic changes during his long and prolific career. His work varies from the early geometric forms inspired by time spent in Constantin Brancusi's studio in Paris, to politically motivated designs for public spaces, to Zen-inspired gardens meant to invoke contemplation and meditation. What remains constant, however, is the desire to relate sculpture to the environment, to create "places for social connection and interaction." In Wind Catcher, Noguchi has created a dialogue between the work and its surroundings through the gently curving steel that alternately projects and recedes into space. This piece is stylistically unlike anything else Noguchi produced during the late years of his career—he was working primarily in stone at this time. It communicates, however, ideas and concerns that were characteristic of the artist's entire body of work—abstraction, simplicity, and response to nature.
