Isamu Noguchi was always thinking about outdoor spaces and what he could do to transform them. Playgrounds, memorials, and so much more to find out here.
Isamu Noguchi was one of the most important designers and sculptors from the 20th century. He learned everything with his mentor, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi. But not only Brancusi, but Isamu also learned from the abstract forms of Jean Arp and Japanese Zen gardens. Noguchi, throughout his career, pursued a “lifetime of artistic experimentation that transcended the boundaries of art, design, theater, and architecture.“
The Noguchi Museum had a few years ago two exhibitions of Isamu work of art and this is what we are going to show you now. Here we can see “Models for Spaces”, which includes some of Noguchi’s projects, for example, his gardens for the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company in Bloomfield.
According to Dakin Hart, the senior curator of Noguchi Museum, regarding the importance of the playground says that “[Noguchi] kept trying and trying to build a playground,”. “Play is the best and most fundamental way to engage with the world, and the key to art is childhood.”
“Model for Memorial to Buddha on the 2500th Anniversary of Buddha’s Paranamnirvana, New Delhi”. Hart says that “He had a very holistic way of thinking about space and the design of a space.”
10 Details About the Designer
Now, there are very curious things about Isamu that we must know about! Let’s find the ten more important. The first one is that Constantin Brancusi was his biggest influence, as we said before. Noguchi studied in Brancusi’s studio in Paris!
In 1948, with his Herman Miller coffee table, he became the architect of the modern living room.
Playground design was one of the main focuses of his design life. Children can climb, explore and have a good time in Sapporo (Japan) and Atlanta (Georgia).
You can find Isamu’s museums in New York and Japan.
Martha Graham was a dancer and choreographer and an important part of Noguchi’s art, such as Appalachian Spring and Cave of the Heart.
Isamu was responsible for the first baby monitor, in 1937. The design never became very popular, however, it was regarded as the first of the technology.
We can say that the designer had an extensive career, he created the floating fountains for the 1970 Osaka Expo.
Commercial Design was quite important to Isamu Noguchi. He designed furniture, in order to have the opportunity to create work with purpose.
Last, but not least he volunteered himself to a Japanese internment camp after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. He was hoping to have the chance to establish an arts and crafts program and design the infrastructure. But he soon realized that wasn’t going to happen. The last detail is that he had a passionate and brief affair with Frida Khalo, while he was in Mexico, back in 1936. They stayed together until Diego Rivera, Frida’s husband, find about them. The two remained close friends for the rest of their lives.
Credits to: Architectural Digest and Dwell
