SELF-INTERNED, 1942

SELF-INTERNED, 1942
This guide was written to complement the exhibition “Self-Interned, 1942: Noguchi in
Poston War Relocation Center” at The Noguchi Museum. This exhibition marks the75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, a wartime directive that authorized theforced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans living on the west coast.
On view until January 2018, the exhibition explores Isamu Noguchi’s decision tovoluntarily enter the Poston War Relocation Center.
The content of this guide will remain accessible beyond the run of the exhibition.
The Noguchi Museum will continue to support classroom investigations of Noguchi’s
self-internment as an example of one artist’s struggle to navigate the internment ofJapanese Americans during World War II.
Recommended for students in grades 5–12, this guide includes an overview of thehistorical context surrounding Noguchi’s experience, as well as artwork and primary
documents related to Noguchi’s time in Poston. We have kept the content as open
as possible, in order to encourage teachers to adapt the materials to meet the needsof their students.
For each artwork or document, we have included a large image for use in theclassroom, information about the piece, and a suggested writing, art, or discussion
activity. The information in the “About” section is intended for teacher reference,
although it may certainly be shared with students during or after the activity.
Quotations from Isamu Noguchi are incorporated to offer educators connections
with, and insights into, the artist’s thought process.
The five works featured:• “I Become a Nisei” (1942)• Park and Recreation Areas at Poston, Arizona (1942)• Letter to Man Ray (1942)• Letter to George Biddle (1942)• Remembrance (1944)
We welcome your feedback about this guide or about educational resources andprograms at The Noguchi Museum. Please feel free to contact us at
education@noguchi.org.

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SELF-INTERNED, 1942: An Overview
After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 9066. Signed February 19, 1942, the order authorized the military to forcibly evacuate
Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. The newly established War Relocation Authority (WRA)
began deporting residents first to assembly centers, and then to internment camps.
Approximately 120,000 Japanese immigrants (Issei) and Americans of Japanese descent (Nisei) wereforced to leave their homes and their jobs. The WRA relocated them into ten internment camps built
in deserts and swamplands. Barbed wire fenced each camp, guards stood sentry in watchtowers, andsearchlights swept the grounds at night. The internees lived in barracks with communal bathrooms anddining halls.
Isamu Noguchi voluntarily entered an internment camp in Poston, Arizona. As a New York resident,
Noguchi was exempt from the government’s evacuation orders. However, the child of a Japanese father
and American mother, the artist remained keenly aware of what was taking place on the West Coast: “I was
not just American but Nisei.” Noguchi wanted to help. He met with the commissioner of Indian Affairs inWashington, D.C., named John Collier. Collier oversaw the internment camps because they were built on
Indian reservation land. He encouraged Noguchi to move to the internment camp in Poston, Arizona, to help
create an ideal community there. “Thus I willfully became a part of humanity uprooted.”
Noguchi arrived at Poston on the morning of May 8, 1942, with visions of developing the camp into a model
community. He planned to develop an arts and crafts program, including ceramics and woodworking, tobring back handicraft traditions that he feared the Nisei had lost in the process of Americanization. His
barrack assignment: block 5, building 7, apartment A.
However, within a few weeks, his letters reflected his growing unhappiness with the “the intense heat”
and “eye-burning dust.” Noguchi struggled not only with the extreme conditions, but also with his strained
relationships with both the camp’s authority figures as well as the resident Nisei.
An established artist from the East coast, Noguchi discovered he didn’t have much in common with theother internees who mostly came from farming backgrounds. Although his celebrity status and good looks
drew admiration from some, most Nisei regarded him with suspicion. “Everything about him was different,”
recalled one internee. With a private corner apartment and occasional trips outside the camp, Noguchi’s
privileged status garnered mistrust; many suspected he was an informer.
Few of Noguchi’s Poston projects came to fruition – a point of further frustration for the artist. He came tobelieve Collier’s plans for an ideal community sat at odds with the aims of the WRA. The artist doggedly
found solutions to many a setback, but with limited supplies and little support, Noguchi believed: “Mypresence became pointless.” He wanted out.
Noguchi entered Poston of his own volition, but soon realized that getting out of the camp would prove moredifficult. In late July, Noguchi wrote of his unhappiness to Collier, asking for help to secure release from
Poston. His plea initially unanswered, Noguchi began petitioning WRA officials directly. Six months after his
arrival in Poston, Noguchi obtained military authorization for a 30-day leave. On November 12, 1942, he got
into his station wagon and drove out of Arizona. He never returned.

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I BECOME A NISEI“ To be hybrid anticipates the future. This is America, the nation of nationalities. ”“By breaking a thing you destroy it. The question is: How deliberately
do you do it, and do you have a plan?.... By breaking it up, you enter
inside the molecules, so to speak.”­— Isamu Noguchi									— Isamu Noguchi

ABOUT
Identity was a source of personal and professional tension for Noguchi. His mother,
Leonie Gilmour, was an American teacher and editor; his father, Yone Noguchi, wasa well-known Japanese poet. Their affair began when Leonie agreed to edit Yone’s
English poetry. Before Noguchi was born in 1904, Yone left for Japan. At two, Noguchi
moved with his mother to Japan, where he remained an outsider and continued to be
estranged from his father. He returned to America, despite a growing anti-Japanesesentiment, and Noguchi attended high school in Indiana. He made this transition
on his own, learning some measure of self-reliance, but with support from a local
businessman and his family. (Leonie would return to New York when Isamu was in his
20s.) He remained equivocal about his identity.
On December 7, 1941, Noguchi heard the news on his car radio: Japan had bombed
the U.S. Navy in Pearl Harbor. “With a flash I realized I was no longer the sculptor
alone,” Noguchi recalled. “I was not just American but Nisei. A Japanese-American.”With race hysteria mounting on the West Coast, Noguchi wanted to help his fellow
Nisei. He organized a group called the Nisei Writers and Artists for the Mobilization of
Democracy, made plans to improve internment, wrote to like-minded activists to draw
attention to the Issei and Nisei’s circumstances, and met with government officials. His
activism culminated in his choice to voluntarily enter the internment camp in Poston,
Arizona.
Noguchi was asked to write an account of the internment camps for Reader’s Digest,a widely popular magazine that culled and condensed stories from other publications.
The founder, DeWitt Wallace, offered Noguchi $1200 for the prospective piece.
Noguchi responded with “I Become a Nisei,” which summarizes his experience as aninternee and critically reflects on his identity in relation to the Nisei. The artist wrote
the essay slowly, preparing it for submission in October of 1942. His article was neverpublished, possibly because of the magazine’s conservative nature, and likely due togovernment censure.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: EXPLORING IDENTITY
Read: Noguchi wrote “I Become a Nisei” when he was in the Poston internment camp.
Read the essay: http://www.noguchi.org/sites/default/files/Isamu-Noguchi-I-Become-ANisei-Noguchi-Museum.pdf
In the essay, Noguchi reflects on his own identity, as well as the identity of the Nisei(American citizens of Japanese descent). How does Noguchi compare himself to the
Nisei? How is he similar? How is he different?
Discuss: Noguchi titles his essay “I Become a Nisei.” He explains his entry into Poston:“A haunting sense of unreality, of not quite belonging, which has always bothered me[and] made seek for an answer among the Nisei.” Does Noguchi find an answer? Does
he become a Nisei? Why or why not?
Research: Watch the video stories in The New York Times series “Hyphen-Nation”:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/hyphen-nation
Compare these stories to Noguchi’s essay. What similarities can you find?
Differences?
Respond: How would you answer the Times’ questions: “When do you feel mostAmerican? Or least?” Provide your answer in writing or drawing. Share your responsewith a partner.
Reflect: As a group, how would you define American identity? Noguchi defines
American identity at the beginning of his essay: “To be hybrid anticipates the future. This
is America, the nation of all nationalities. The racial and cultural intermixture is . . . ourunique personality and strength.” How does Noguchi’s definition compare to the one youcollectively created?

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PARK AND RECREATION FOR POSTON‘You are the middle people who will help teach Asia the meaning of democracy. This is“By breaking a thing you destroy it. The question is: How deliberately
construction in a world of chaos.’ — [Noguchi quoting John Collier]do you do it, and do you have a plan?.... By breaking it up, you enter
inside the molecules, so to speak.”­— Isamu Noguchi

ABOUT
Noguchi wanted to help shape the environment of the interment camps in a way thatwould foster “good will” among the internees and engender faith in democracy. With
encouragement from a government official, John Collier, he agreed to enter Poston
voluntarily, with the aim of developing this ideal community.
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) described the internment camps as “pioneer”
communities “where you may live, work, worship and educate your children.” The WRA
noted Poston’s potential for farming, suggesting internees would “develop a green irrigatedvalley for their own use.” In contrast to the WRA’s cheery accounts, the reality of the camp
was bleak when Noguchi arrived in May 1942.
Built in the Arizona desert, the Poston War Relocation Center was gated by a barbed wire
fence much like a prison. The camp was divided into blocks, each containing 14 barracks.
Each barrack held four 20x30 foot apartments. Each apartment housed a minimum of fivepeople. The people within each block shared communal bathrooms and a mess hall.
The camps were still under construction when Noguchi arrived. Frustrated with thegovernment’s plodding pace, he nonetheless mapped out his ideas for the camp. In his
Park and Recreation Areas at Poston, Arizona design, Noguchi envisioned a series ofgathering spaces, tracing along a tree-lined irrigation canal running through the center ofthe camp. To provide relief from Poston’s repetitive layout, the artist angled structures off
the camp’s boxy grid and playfully curved the canal.
Few of Noguchi’s plans came to fruition, although Noguchi found solutions for many of the
obstacles he encountered. Without technicians and limited resources, Noguchi enlisted
the help of the internees to create adobe bricks from local clay. Still, camp officials did notprioritize internee projects, and Noguchi came to believe “they wanted nothing permanent
nor pleasant.” Without the support he needed, Noguchi could not move forward with hisplans, and thus began petitioning for his release.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: CREATING AN IDEAL COMMUNITY
Look: Look at photographs of the Poston War Relocation Center (available here: http://
densho.org/).
Compare: Now look at Noguchi’s Park and Recreation Areas at Poston, Arizona. The
artist voluntarily entered the camp, hoping to build an ideal community. Looking at thisplan, describe the choices Noguchi made. How do you think Noguchi’s revisions mightchange life in the camp?
Discuss: Noguchi aimed to create an environment that would foster a greater senseof community among the Japanese American internees. In what ways would his spaceaccomplish that mission?
Create: What would your ideal neighborhood look like? Generate a list of things yourneighborhood needs or might enjoy. Consider where each of these places should goin your community. Using drawing and collage materials, create a map of your ideal
neighborhood.
Reflect: What did you include in your neighborhood? What did you choose not toinclude? What did you locate in the center of the map? What’s around the edges? Why
did you make these choices? Consider the trials Noguchi faced designing a plan for the
Poston War Relocation Center.

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LETTER TO FRIENDS“ This “Bymustbreaking
be one of theearth’syou
cruelest
spots.”
Isamu
Noguchi is: How deliberately
a thing
destroy
it.—Thequestion

do you do it, and do you have a plan?.... By breaking it up, you enter
inside the molecules, so to speak.”­— Isamu Noguchi
ABOUT
Japanese Americans went through an admittance process on arrival in Poston. Afterbeing fingerprinted and required to recite a loyalty oath, they received a serial number
and an assignment to one of the camp’s shared “tarpaper shacks.” With a private roomand no serial number, luxuries afforded by his volunteer entry, Noguchi’s internment
experience was privileged. Yet, the artist was largely subject to the same conditions
and way of life as the other internees.
Poston’s hastily built barracks did little to protect the incarcerated from the harshclimate of the Arizona desert. Temperatures soared over 100 degrees in the summer,and dove below freezing on winter nights. With its proximity to the Colorado River,the desert air was, strangely, often thick with humidity. Dust storms frequently swept
through the camp.
Life in Poston was regimented. A siren announced 7 a.m. wake up each morning; lights
were out by 9 p.m. More than one family would be crammed into a single apartment.
Internees from 14 barracks would wait in long lines to use the shared washrooms andtoilets. Each day, internees received 37 cents to buy food that was cooked poorly byinexperienced chefs in the mess hall. Many internees became ill.
Three weeks after he arrived in Poston, Noguchi wrote letters describing his experience
to his friends, American artists George Biddle and Man Ray. George Biddle was an
artist from Philadelphia whose work spanned many media including painting, sculpture,and printmaking. He’s well known for proposing a government-sponsored muralprogram, which turned into the Federal Arts Program during President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt’s administration. Also from Philadelphia, Man Ray was a photographer andpainter. He is most well known for developing the artist style, Surrealism, which aimed
to revolt against rational thought – and thus against the rules of society that they foundoppressive. As Surrealists reveled in the subconscious revelations of dreams, Man Ray
may have particularly appreciated Noguchi’s dream analogy described in his letter.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: WRITTEN REFLECTIONS
Read: Noguchi wrote letters to his friends shortly after arriving at the Poston
internment camp. At the beginning of his letter to Man Ray, Noguchi makes ananalogy, comparing his experience inside the internment camp to a dream. How does
he extend this analogy – how is the camp like a dream?
Compare: Noguchi wrote to George Biddle and Man Ray on the same day. How dothese letters compare to each other?
Discuss: What do you notice about Noguchi’s mood in these letters? What does
he think about the internment camp? What specific parts of the letters give you that
impression?
Condense: Underline the most important sentence in each letter, then circle themost important word in that sentence. How do these words get to the essence ofeach letter?
Revise: Noguchi concludes his letter to Man Ray with what appears almost as twolines of poetry:
O ! for the sea !
““an orrange

What do you make of Noguchi’s choices – the sea and an orange? Based on the restof his writing, why might he want these particular things? If you were to rewrite theselast two lines for yourself, what would it say?
O! for the ______ !
O! for an _______!

Reflect: What words did you choose? Share your new poem in small groups.
Why did you choose these words?

SELF-INTERNED, 194211

Remembrance
1944
Mahogany
50 1/2 x 24 5/8 x 9 in. (128.3 x 62.5 x 22.9 cm)
Photo: Kevin Noble

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REMEMBRANCE, 1944

“ A purely cold abstraction doesn’t interest me too much.. . . Art has to have some kind of
humanly
andamemorable
It hasrecallsomethinga person.”“Bytouching
breaking
thing youquality.
destroyit. toThequestion
is:which
Howmovesdeliberately— Isamu Noguchi

do you do it, and do you have a plan?.... By breaking it up, you enter
inside the molecules, so to speak.”­— Isamu Noguchi

ABOUT
Back in New York, Noguchi settled into a new studio space on MacDougal Alley. “Thedeep depression that comes with living under a cloud of suspicion, which we as Nisei
experienced, lifted, and was followed by tranquility . . . I resolved henceforth to be an
artist only.” Like many American artists, Noguchi turned to abstraction as a vehicle forexpression at this time, thinking that abstraction could be perhaps more universal thanrealistic forms, which were used for purposes of propaganda.
During this time, Noguchi created a series of interlocking sculptures. The artist madethese sculptures in a multistep process. He began by drawing abstract, biomorphic
shapes on craft paper. He cut out the shapes and assembled them into small
freestanding models. Noguchi enlarged and traced the shapes onto slabs of wood,stone, slate, or marble. He cut the forms using a circular power saw; without glue ornails, he then assembled the pieces into full-scale sculptures.
Noguchi’s interlocking sculptures can be taken apart in two minutes and reassembled
in a new location. Art historian Amy Lyford links this process to the realities of JapaneseAmerican relocation. Those who were forced to evacuate packed the pieces of theirlives that they could fit into two suitcases, left their homes and jobs, and moved into thecamps. Lyford argues “Noguchi’s unique movable sculptures might be just the thing fora modern culture on the move, whether ‘relocating’ to a different state for work or being
relocated for more overtly political reasons.”

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY: ABSTRACTION, MOOD, AND MEMORY
Brainstorm: Abstraction is art that does not show something from the world
realistically, but rather uses the elements (line, texture, color, value, and form or
shape) to express an internal reality, such as an idea or a feeling. What are someideas or moods you might convey in an artwork?
Create: Using the template included in this guide, cut out all seven shapes. How
might you arrange these shapes two dimensionally to show joy? Sadness? Conflict?
Peace? (Use ideas and emotions generated in the Brainstorm activity above.)
Look: Noguchi used these same shapes to create Remembrance. What do theshapes remind you of? What do you notice about the way he chose to arrange theshapes? What word would you use to describe the mood of Remembrance? Why?
Discuss: Because of its interlocking structure, Noguchi could dismantle
Remembrance in two minutes, pack all of its parts into a box, and then reassemble it in a new location. Art historian Amy Lyford likens this process to theexperience of Japanese American relocation during World War II. What new ideas
does this interpretation give you about the work?
Extend: If you could re-assemble Remembrance in a new place, where would you
move it?

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RESOURCES
Bibliography
Herrera, Hayden. Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi. New York:
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.
Lyford, Amy. Isamu Noguchi’s Modernism: Negotiating Race, Labor, and Nation, 19301950. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.
Maeda, Robert J.. “Isamu Noguchi: 5-7-A, Poston, Arizona.” Last Witnesses:
Reflections on the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans, edited by Erica Harth,
Palgrave, New York, 153-166.
Nishimoto, Richard S., and Lane Ryo Hirabayashi. Inside an American Concentration
Camp. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1995.
Okihiro, Gary. Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1980.
Noguchi, Isamu. A Sculptor’s World. New York: Harper & Row Publishers Inc., 1968.
Winther-Tamaki, Bert. Art in the Encounter of Nations. Honolulu: University of Hawaii
Press, 2001.

Websites
http://densho.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/hyphen-nation

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