Skip to main content
Label Text Noguchi’s unique artistic identity combined his interest in both Asian and European traditions. He found that the aesthetics of Japanese art, with its simplified forms, proclivity towards abstraction, and pure use of materials, reconciled well with Modernism, which shares several similar values. Working with a Japanese carpenter, Noguchi learned techniques with hand tools and natural materials that would be reinforced during his time as Constantin Brancusi’s studio assistant in Paris. Noguchi’s sculpture is often described as “biomorphic”, meaning that while abstract, the shapes are derived from those found in nature.
Published ReferencesBotnick, Diane and Nancy Grove. The Sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, 1924-1979: A Catalogue. New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1980: i-xvii, 1-625
DimensionsOverall: 60 × 21 3/8 × 13 1/2 in. (152.4 × 54.3 × 34.3 cm)
Overall (a): 49 1/2 × 20 3/4 × 1 in. (125.7 × 52.7 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (b): 30 1/2 × 11 3/4 × 1 in. (77.5 × 29.8 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (c): 20 3/4 × 13 1/2 × 1 in. (52.7 × 34.3 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (d): 16 × 6 3/4 × 1 in. (40.6 × 17.1 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (e): 3 1/2 × 13 × 1 in. (8.9 × 33 × 2.5 cm)
Overall (f): 1 × 10 × 9 1/2 in. (2.5 × 25.4 × 24.1 cm)
Accession Number 2006.31.a-.f
Classificationssculpture
CopyrightARS
SignedIsamu Noguchi 5/8 (near floor end of largest component)
Edition5/8
MarksFONDERIA TESCONI PIETRASANTA (near floor end of largest component)
ProvenanceArtist. Arnold Herstand & Company, New York [acquired c. 1984]; Jacqueline and Myron Blank, Des Moines [purchased from the previous, 1985]; Des Moines Art Center [bequest of the previous, 2006]
Figure
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Robert Graham
1974
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Bryan Hunt
1979
Photo Credit: Richard Sanders, Des Moines
Bryan Hunt
1978
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ronald Wendell Davis
1971
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Gunther Gerzso
1966
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Mikhail Larionov
1908
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William T. Wiley
1975
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Jack Tworkov
1973
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Oskar Schlemmer
1962, original plaster cast 1919