Presentation features more than sixty tools owned by the artist; photos and film footage of Noguchi at work; and a selection of finished and unfinished sculptures
On October 3, 2012, The Noguchi Museum opens Hammer, Chisel, Drill: Noguchi’s Studio Practice, the first exhibition to explore the distinctive working methods of Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), one of the most critically acclaimed sculptors of the twentieth century. In the course of his peripatetic, sixty-year career, Noguchi established a succession of studios around the world—in the United States, Italy, and Japan—and their geographic locations and cultural milieus profoundly influenced his artistic development and production.
With objects drawn from the incomparable holdings of The Noguchi Museum, the display features an array of hand- and industrial tools owned by the artist, archival photos and film footage of Noguchi at work, and a relevant selection of finished as well as unfinished sculptures. The exhibition remains on view through April 28, 2013.
Born in the United States to a Japanese father and an American mother, Isamu Noguchi lived in Japan until the age of thirteen, when he moved to Indiana. He returned to Japan periodically throughout his life, and the traditions of Japanese art, with its emphasis on simplicity, sensitivity to materials, and respect for craftsmanship, would profoundly influence him throughout his career. In 1927 Noguchi apprenticed to Constantin Brancusi, whose reductive, abstracted forms had a dramatic impact on his artistic development. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation, he created sculpture, gardens, furniture, lighting and interior designs, ceramics, architecture, and set designs that were at once subtle and bold, traditional and modern. Extraordinarily prolific and renowned for uncompromising perfectionism, Noguchi set a new standard for artistic achievement.
Occupying a renovated industrial building dating from the 1920s, The Noguchi Museum, founded by the artist for the display of his work, comprises ten indoor galleries and an internationally celebrated outdoor sculpture garden. Since its founding in 1985, the museum—itself widely viewed as among the artist’s greatest achievements—has exhibited a comprehensive selection of sculpture in stone, metal, wood, and clay, as well as models for public projects and gardens, dance sets, and Noguchi’s Akari Light Sculptures. Together, this installation and the Museum’s diverse special exhibitions offer a rich, contextualized view of Noguchi’s work and illuminate his influential legacy of innovation. For more information: www.noguchi.org