Isamu Noguchi’s World

During 2004-05, the United States celebrates the centennial birthday of the world renowned artist Isamu Noguchi. The Western Gallery presents two exhibitions on the occasion. The Bollingen Journey Photographs 1949-1956: In 1949 Isamu Noguchi approached the Bollingen Foundation for a fellowship to study the contemplative and participatory aspects of art in different cultures. Although he traveled to Europe, Egypt, India, and Indonesia, he concentrated his studies in Japan. This first ever exhibition of Noguchi’s project documents this period through his own remarkable photographs (over 250) along with his travel/diary entries. Noguchi and Dance: The second exhibition focuses on Noguchi’s interdisciplinary creations, particularly his desire to create designs for dance, a type of environment with spatial dynamics. Noguchi had a long relationship with the Martha Graham Dance Company, resulting in extraordinary stage sets over a 30 year period. This small exhibition begins with highlighting the models for Noguchi’s Skyviewing Sculpture at Western. This sculpture itself was influenced by both a photograph of an East Indian observatory well as by a dance set designed by Graham’s company. In large scale format the exhibition continuously shows several DVD’s of Graham’s company dancing in relationship to a variety of Noguchi’s stages sets, including Frontier (1935), Cave of the Heart (1946), and Night Journey (1947).