Hands-on activities for youngsters were part of the December 6 event. On Sunday, December 6, an audience gathered at The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, for a private viewing of Noguchi Reinstalled, a recreation of the late artist’s works in their original interior design.

The opening coincides with the 25th anniversary of the opening of the museum, which since 2002, has undergone a multi-phase renovation of its edifice. “It was a perfect opportunity to honor the museum as it was, and return it to its glory,” said Curator Bonnie Rychalk, who was Noguchi’s assistant and was responsible for reinstalling the collection and returning it to Noguchi’s original vision.

Born on Nov. 17, 1904, Isamu Noguchi was the son of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and American writer Leonie Gilmour. He was also the half-sibling of Ailes Gilmour, considered one of the founders of the Modern Dance movement in America during the 1930s. Due to his travels, he was able to bridge the gap between East and West, combining the simplicity of modernism and Japanese artistry.

Noguchi celebrated the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Buddha in 1957 with “Memorial to Buddha”. More than 200 works of art, spanning the 1920s to the 1980s, are on display. The first floor is comprised of 10 galleries, which feature an array of sculptures and an outdoor sculpture garden.

The second floor holds paintings, busts, architectural models, stage designs and furniture designs, such as the eerie “Monument to Heroes” (1943), a testament to the horrors of war. The original piece contained actual human bones. A model of “Bolt of Lightning” reproduces in miniature a 102-foot-tall stainless steel sculpture designed as a memorial to Benjamin Franklin installed near the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia some 50 years after Noguchi had conceived it.

Isamu Noguchi’s “The Bow” (1970- 73), black marble. In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Noguchi amassed a portfolio that crossed both cultures and borders. Some of his most notable sculptures include the 24-foot-high Red Cube which graces the entrance of the HSBC Bank building in Manhattan’s Financial District, the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden, located at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, or the Japanese Garden located at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.

Prior to his death in 1988, Noguchi had just completed the designs for the landscape of Moerenuma Park in Sapporo, Japan. Construction began the following year and the park was opened to the public in 2005.

For some of the guests, the appreciation of art was just as important as a chance to connect with their own heritage. “As the mother of bi-racial children, much like Noguchi, I really wanted to bring my children here to have a sense of the Japanese culture,” Michiko Yoshifuji said. She brought her children Kai,12, and Anna, 9, to the exhibition, where they participated in arts and crafts.

Curator Bonnie Rychalk conducts a tour of the exhibit. During the 1960s, while most artists were setting up studios in Manhattan, Noguchi set up his studio in what was once the industrial center of Queens. He worked with local suppliers on Vernon Boulevard, transforming the metal scraps they gave him into pieces of art. In 1974, he purchased a two-story photo engraving plant not far from his studio and converted it into a museum that was opened to the public in 1985. It was the first museum in America established by a living person during their lifetime.

The museum helped transform the neighborhood and helped pave the way for cultural institutions such as Socrates Sculpture Park and P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center.

Model of “Memorial to Ben Franklin” (1933). “Places like this show Manhattan doesn’t have a monopoly on cultural institutions,” Michael Sloane, a Westchester resident, said. “These are the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen,” said his wife Barbara, who said she was particularly fond of Noguchi’s usage of various colors and textures.

“Because he had no children of his own, Noguchi created this place as a gift to the community of Queens,” Director Jenny Dixon said. Dixon believes Noguchi’s work continually resonates with people because “it is an affirmation of the individual spirit”.

The exhibition will be on display until Oct. 24, 2010. For more information about the museum, visit www.noguchi.org.—Rachel Dzanashvili
Noguchi’s art as social commentary: “Death Lynched” (1934) addresses a controversial issue of the time. Photos Rachel Dzanashvili