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イサム・ノグチ イメージ Isamu NOGUCHI　1973
©The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artist Rights Society [ARS] – JASPAR.
Photo by Mimi Jacobs

Isamu NOGUCHI Biography

  • 1904Born in Los Angeles to poet Yone Noguchi (1875-1947) and editor Leonie Gilmour (1873-1933). Father returns to Japan before Isamu is born.
  • 1907Moves to Japan with mother, Leonie, and remains for 11 years.
  • 1918Returns to America alone to attend a progressive school in Indiana.
  • 1927Studies in Paris and becomes studio assistant to sculptor Constantin Brancusi.
  • 1930Moves to Beijing, traveling via Siberia.
  • 1931Returns to Japan for 8 months. Impressed by Kyoto’s Zen gardens and haniwa sculptures.
  • 1942In wartime America, voluntarily enters relocation camp for Japanese-American internees.
  • 1949Begins world tour to visit stone antiquities in over 10 countries.
  • 1950Returns to Japan after 19 years and mixes with Japanese artists.
    Thereafter, divides his work time between America, Europe and Japan.
  • 1952Throws his energy into ceramics, working in a traditional house in the grounds of Rosanjin’s studio in Kita Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
  • 1958Takes on Shoji Sadao (1927-), architect and disciple of inventor Buckminster Fuller, as studio assistant and collaborator.
  • 1964Meets stonecutter Masatoshi Izumi (1938-) in Mure, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. With Izumi as his studio assistant and collaborator, builds a Mure studio on a level with his facility in New York.
  • 1985Renovates his New York studio, reopening it as The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (now The Noguchi Museum).
  • 1988Dies in New York.
  • 1999Mure studio and gardens open as The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan.
  • 2005Moerenuma Park, one of his last major designs, opens in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.