Isamu Noguchi

Humpty Dumpty
1946

Tall freestanding sculpture made of organically-shaped, interlocking slabs of grey stone

Not on view

Date
1946

Classification
Sculpture

Medium
Ribbon slate

Dimensions
Overall: 59 × 20 3/4 × 17 1/2in. (149.9 × 52.7 × 44.5 cm)

Accession number
47.7a-e

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Rights and reproductions
© The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In the mid-1940s, Isamu Noguchi began producing some of his most original works, comprised of interlocking, rounded forms in materials such as wood and gray slate. Humpty Dumpty, an emblematic work from this period, was carefully constructed so that its nine parts would fit together and stay in place without glue or screws. As Noguchi explained, “everything I do has an element of engineering in it—particularly since I dislike gluing parts together or taking advantage of something that is not inherent in the material. I am leery of welding or pasting. It implies taking an unfair advantage of nature.” The title Humpty Dumpty playfully acknowledges the work’s precarious construction, while the roundness of the forms evokes the famously plump character of the children’s rhyme. At the same time, this seemingly whimsical work may carry more ominous undertones. Produced shortly after the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the sculpture’s title and composition suggest the unstable state of the world after World War II.

Audio

Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

Stop 751 from Where We Are (Kids, Spanish)

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Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

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Mark Joshua Epstein: Esta es una escultura del artista Isamu Noguchi llamada Humpty Dumpty.
Estudiante 1: Con el nombre Humpty Dumpty parece que se tratara de sus pedazos rotos, ya que antes era algo gordo y relleno.
Mark Joshua Epstein: Isamu Noguchi era mitad japonés; su padre era japonés, y él vivió en Japón hasta aproximadamente los 13 años. Realizó esta escultura justo después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, que terminó con el bombardeo de algunas ciudades de Japón. Me pregunto si alguno de ustedes cree que el título, Humpty Dumpty, tiene algo que ver con estos bombardeos de Japón.
Estudiante 1: Bueno, creo que el artista, después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y ante la ruina de Japón y la gente que murió en los bombardeos, quizás pensara que sus vidas habían quedado hechas añicos metafóricamente. Creo que es como la guerra, porque incluso después de que una guerra termina deja su marca.
Estudiante 2: Yo, por mi parte, creo que es como un pedazo de papel que uno arruga y luego estira; queda arrugado, ya no puede ser lo que era antes.
Isamu Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

Stop 751 from Where We Are (Kids)

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Isamu Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

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Mark Joshua Epstein: This is a sculpture by the artist Isamu Noguchi that’s called Humpty Dumpty.
Student 1: With the name Humpty Dumpty, it kind of looks like it is pieces, it used to be something flat and whole.
Mark Joshua Epstein: Isamu Noguchi was half Japanese. He had one parent who was Japanese and he lived in Japan until he was about thirteen years old. This sculpture was made just after World War II, which ended because parts of Japan were bombed. I'm wondering if anything thinks that, Humpty Dumpty, the title, has anything to do with this bombing of Japan?
Student 1: Well, I see maybe the artist, he was looking after World War II at the rubble of Japan and the people who had died in the bombing, and he saw that maybe their lives had kind of shattered metaphorically. I think that it is kind of like war, because even after a war might end, it leaves its mark.
Student 2: Well, I feel like it’s sort of a piece of paper when you crumple it up and then you uncrumple it, it’s wrinkled; you can't make it the same.
Isamu Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

Stop 751 from Where We Are

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Isamu Noguchi, Humpty Dumpty, 1946

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Narrator: Isamu Noguchi composed this 1946 sculpture out of flat interlocking pieces of stone, held together without pins or adhesives. The work is made out of ribbon slate, a stone that breaks easily. A sense of fragility is also evoked by the work’s title, Humpty Dumpty, the children’s nursery rhyme that ends with this well-known verse: “and all the king’s horses, and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty back together again.” Walk around the sculpture. Notice how Noguchi fits the pieces of stone together—hanging some, balancing and propping up others. They remain in a dynamic state of tension.
Noguchi himself has stated that the fragility of the work mirrors the impermanence of life. He compared his interlocking sculptures to Japanese poetry or cherry blossoms, stating that perfection can “only be transient—a fragile beauty is more potent.”