Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), one of the leading sculptors of the 20th-century, devoted himself to the creation of works completed with simple, yet round lines. He left behind a variety of works besides sculptures, ranging from stage sets for the performing arts to furniture and architecture.
An ongoing exhibition in Tokyo focuses particularly on his works that show a profound interest in the human body and its relation to the earth or the ground. It is the first major retrospective of Noguchi's art in 12 years in this country.
"This exhibition underlines that for Noguchi, the body and its physical contact with the earth always mattered," said Osamu Fukushi, senior curator at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery prior to the opening of "Isamu Noguchi: from sculpture to body and garden" in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
In addition to Noguchi's well-known sculptures, his other works are introduced in the exhibition through four sections.
According to Fukushi, Noguchi's particular interests can be seen as early as 1930 in drawings he did of human bodies during his stay in Beijing.
Noguchi is believed to have flown to the city to, in a way, reexamine the culture of the East in which he had the roots of his identity. Born in the United States to an American mother and Japanese father, he is said to have been in pursuit of his own abstract expression at that time, following a two-year stay in Paris as a Guggenheim fellow and assistant to the sculptor Constantin Brancusi.
On display are eight of the "Peking Brush Drawings" -- being shown for the first time in Japan -- expressed with bold, flowing lines of ink. Proceeding through the exhibition space, one finds such lines repeated in his furniture, sculptures or even in the stones he chose for gardens.
Around the mid-1930s, Noguchi began to collaborate on set design for leading choreographers and dancers such as Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. For Graham's performance of "Herodiade" in 1944, for example, Noguchi designed surreal objects, often using organic forms, and a stage set, in what Fukushi called an effort of "linking human bodies to space."
"Unlike traditional ballet, physical contact with the ground was important for Graham's style of modern ballet. I believe these set designs are important when considering Noguchi's works that were made with the relationship of human bodies to space in mind."
Humans and their relationship to nature were also at the center of Noguchi's garden designs.
"Sunken Garden for Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza," which he designed for the Lower Manhattan building at the request of architect Gordon Bunshaft in the early 1960s, is such an example.
With seven stones brought from the Ujigawa river in Kyoto and placed in the center in a carefully calculated manner, it seems certain the rather secluded, subterranean garden -- as seen in a photograph at the exhibition -- obliges people to stop and look down into it, thanks to the inviting serenity and low-key atmosphere that emanates from the garden.
It is no wonder Noguchi called the sunken garden his own Ryoanji, a famous Kyoto Zen temple that is said to make people feel as if it is making peace with nature.
"Noguchi's involvement in gardens and landscapes indicates his efforts to free sculpture from the framework of just being beautiful objects for appreciation, and give true meaning to sculpture for the sake of people," Fukushi said.
'Sculpture of light'
Noguchi's interests in nature expanded to the creation of light, too.
Among the exhibits are a series of Akari lantern pieces made with handmade paper on a bamboo frame.
Noguchi came to design Akaris after visiting Gifu Prefecture in 1951 and being impressed with traditional Mino washi lanterns produced there.
Koto Nirei, the manager at Kurashi no Katachi store at Living Design Center OZONE in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, compared Akaris to candles. "They give off a sense of warmth thanks to the natural materials used and the gentle light through the paper. I believe that is the reason people are attracted to Akaris."
Nirei said she also finds the Akari lights go well with both Japanese and Western interiors. Ten Akari models are now on display and available for sale as part of the "Isamu Noguchi to Akari" show at the shop.
Fukushi said, "For Noguchi, Akaris were sculptures of light.
"Everything was sculpture for the sculptor."
--"Isamu Noguchi: from sculpture to body and garden" runs through Sept. 24 at Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Closed on Mondays (Tuesday if Monday is a public holiday). Visit https://www.operacity.jp/en/ for more information.
"Isamu Noguchi to Akari" runs through Sept. 25 at the Living Design Center in OZONE in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Closed on Wednesdays. Visit https://www.ozone.co.jp/event_seminar/event/detail/594 for more information.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/