Isamu Noguchi

Background

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was an American artist, furniture designer and landscape architect, born in Los Angeles, whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s.

Signature Style

He treated everything as sculpture and worked in stone, metal, wood, clay, bone and paper. He also designed stage sets for Martha Graham and, from 1951, the Akari lanterns of Gifu.

Notable Works

• The Noguchi Table for Herman Miller, which grew from an illustration for George Nelson's article "How to Make a Table"
• Akari paper light sculptures
• Gardens for the UNESCO Building in Paris, and Moerenuma Park in Sapporo

Legacy

His work is shown at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum in New York City. He received the National Medal of Arts in 1987.