The Life of Isamu Noguchi
Subtitle: Journey without Borders
Contributors: Peter Duus (Translator)
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: August 9, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 440
ISBN-13: 9780691120966
Subjects: Biography: general; History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -; Individual artists; Noguchi, Isamu,; Biography & Autobiography; American - Asian-American; Biography / Autobiography; Japanese American sculptors; Biography/Autobiography; History - Contemporary (1945- ); Sculpture; Art and Architecture; Asian and Asian American Studies; Biography & Autobiography / Artists, Architects, Photographers; 1904-1988; Artists, Architects, Photographers; 1904-; Biography
First sentence: Isamu Noguchi wanted to begin his autobiography with of the story of his American mother, the person who had the greatest influence on his life.
Description: "Isamu Noguchi, born in Los Angeles as the illegitimate son of an American mother and a Japanese poet father, was one of the most prolific yet enigmatic figures in the history of twentieth-century American art. Throughout his life, Noguchi (1904-1988) grappled with the ambiguity of his identity as an artist caught up in two cultures." "His personal struggles - as well as his many personal triumphs - are chronicled in The Life of Isamu Noguchi, the first full-length biography of Noguchi. Published in connection with the centennial of the artist's birth, the book draws on Noguchi's letters, his reminiscences, and interviews with his friends and colleagues to cast new light on his youth, his creativity, and his relationships." "During his sixty-year career, there was hardly a genre that Noguchi failed to explore. He produced more than 2,500 works of sculpture; designed furniture, lamps, and stage sets; created dramatic public gardens all over the world; and pioneered the development of environmental art. After studying in Paris, where he befriended Alexander Calder and worked as an assistant to Constantin Brancusi, he became an ardent advocate for abstract sculpture." "Noguchi's private life was no less passionate than his artistic career. The book describes his romances with many women, among them the dancer Ruth Page, the painter Frida Kahlo, and the writer Anais Nin."--BOOK JACKET.