{"data":{"id":"954","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":954,"topgoose_id":1267,"tms_id":954,"display_name":"Isamu Noguchi","sort_name":"Noguchi Isamu","display_date":"1904–1988","begin_date":"1904","end_date":"1988","biography":"\u003cp\u003eOver the course of his prolific, six-decade\ncareer, Isamu Noguchi explored nearly\nevery available mode of art making.\nHe produced drawings, sculptures, ceramics,\nand photographs, but also designed stage\nsets, playgrounds, furniture, and garden\nlandscapes. In 1944 Noguchi began\nconstructing a series of abstract sculptures\ncomprised of flat, interlocking components.\nHis encounter with the organic shapes\n(or “biomorphs”) that Surrealist artists were\nusing to visually evoke dream states and\nthe unconscious influenced his embrace of\nthese curved, subtly anthropomorphic forms.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNoguchi developed a step-by-\nstep process that involved drawing, model\nmaking, collage, and enlargement to\ncreate his sculptures. \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/2741\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eWork Sheets for\nSculpture\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003edemonstrates a preliminary\nstage of this process. Noguchi first sketched\nshapes suggestive of bones and\nboomerangs on black paper, cut them out,\nand then arranged them into small models.\nThis technique allowed the artist to test\nthe configurations’ stability and make any\nadjustments prior to executing the final\nstructures. He then mounted the excised\ngraph paper, which he used to calculate the\nmeasurements required for enlarging\nand transferring elements, onto slabs of\nslate, marble, or wood. For \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/1520\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHumpty Dumpty\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e,\nNoguchi selected ribbon slate and\ncombined the five interlocking units into an\nupright, freestanding sculpture. Instead\nof affixing the pieces with adhesive, dowels,\nor pins, he manipulated properties of balance\nand gravity. While one segment hangs,\nanother offers crucial support. The result\nsuggests a state of precariousness; removing\neven one element risks inciting collapse.\nThe work’s title underscores the sculpture’s\nfragility: it invokes the familiar children’s\nnursery rhyme of the same name, in which\n“all the king’s horses and all the king’s\nmen / couldn’t put Humpty together again.”\nNoguchi’s interpenetrating sculptures—made\nin the years during and following World\nWar II—offer a potent reminder of humanity’s\ndelicate interconnectedness.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":true,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500008602","wikidata_id":"Q442628","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:15:41.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-28T07:01:54.336-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/954/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/954/exhibitions"}}}}