Isamu Noguchi
Isamu Noguchi has influenced artistic disciplines from sculpture and set design to furniture design and public art. Born in 1904 in Los Angeles to an American mother who was a writer, and a Japanese father who was a poet, Noguchi spent his early life in Japan, moving back to the United states in 1918 to attend high school. In 1922, he spent the summer in Connecticut apprenticed to the sculptor Gutzon Borglum (of Mount Rushmore fame) but came away discouraged. He enrolled at Columbia University to study medicine, and at the urging of his mother, enrolled in evening art classes at the Leonardo da Vinci Art School. His experience there soon eclipsed his medical studies, and in 1927 he applied for and won a Guggenheim Fellowship to study art in Paris. There he worked under abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi, who would remain one of his major influences. In 1929, Noguchi had his first solo exhibit in New York at the Eugene Schoen Gallery, but had to support himself through commissioned portrait busts - work that would fund his travels and work through the next decade. In 1930, he embarked on an extended trip through Asia, studying painting, ceramics and Zen gardens. In 1935, Noguchi designed a set for Martha Graham, a collaboration that would continue for decades and lead to costume and set design for Merce Cunningham and George Balanchine, among others. Noguchi's first large scale public work was commissioned in Mexico City in 1936, where he created a mural chronicling the history of Mexico. In 1942, he voluntarily interned with fellow Japanese-Americans who had been confined to camps during World War II, hoping he could improve their living conditions. He left the camp after several months, but continued to be investigated by the FBI for several years. Noguchi produced many more public art projects, such as the garden at the UNESCO Headquarters, the Red Cube on Broadway, and bridges for the Peace Park in Hiroshima. He also designed mass-produced furniture for Herman Miller. Some of his best work was shown at a retrospective at the Whitney Museum in 1968, and his show Imaginary Landscapes was exhibited at the Walker Art Center in 1978. Noguchi worked up until his death in 1988 in New York. One of his final projects was the Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Queens, New York.
