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1904-31 | 1932-49 | 1950-61 | 1962-88
This chronology appears in Bruce Altshuler, Isamu Noguchi
(New York: Abbeville Press, 1994), pp.113-116 |
| 1950 |
May 2 — arrives in Japan to much publicity, and welcomed by young artists and architects, including Kenzo Tange. Asked to design memorial room and garden for his father at Keio University (completed 1952). August — exhibits new ceramics, furniture, model of Hiroshima memorial bell tower, and sculpture and models for Keio University project at Mitsukoshi Department Store, Tokyo. September 4 — departs for New York. November — meets future wife, actress Yoshiko (Shirley) Yamaguchi, in New York. Designs set for Martha Graham's Judith.
Photos: Keio University memorial room, Keio University garden, Bell Tower, Mitsukoshi exhibition, Judith |
| 1951 |
March — returns to Japan. June — travels to Hiroshima to see two bridges into Peace Park for possible commission to design railings. July — awarded Hiroshima bridge commission (completed 1952). Travels to Gifu, where creates the first Akari lantern designs. Designs garden for new Reader's Digest Building in Tokyo. Returns to Hollywood with Shirley Yamaguchi, where does reliminary design for United Nations Playground (unrealized). Included in first Sao Paulo Biennial, Brazil. Returns to New York in winter and begins work on garden for Lever Brothers Building, the first of many projects with Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill.
Photos: Hiroshima Bridge 1, Hiroshima Bridge 2, United Nations Playground, Lever Brothers Garden, Akari |
| 1952 |
Returns to Japan in spring. Asked by Kenzo Tange and mayor of Hiroshima to design large Memorial to the Atomic Dead (unrealized). May — married to Shirley Yamaguchi in formal ceremony. (Official date of marriage recorded as December 18 at U.S. Embassy, Tokyo.) Establishes house and studio in Kita Kamakura in traditional structure belonging to potter Kitaoji Rosanjin, and works in ceramics. Proposal for Hiroshima cenotaph rejected. September — ceramic works and Akari exhibited in second one-person exhibition of the new Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura. First Akari lanterns available in Japan.
Photos: Memorial to Atomic Dead, Kamakura exhibition, Kita Kamakura studio |
| 1953 |
January-February — returns to New York, and works to reverse government denial of U.S. visa to Shirley Yamaguchi for her past association with suspected Communists in Hollywood. Designs set for Martha Graham's Voyage (set reused for Circe, 1963). July-December — spends much of time outside of U.S. with Shirley, including stays in Paris, Greece, and Hong Kong. |
| 1954 |
Knoll International manufactures rocking stools and table. November — exhibits ceramic sculpture from Japan in New York.
Photo: Knoll rocking stool |
| 1955 |
April — first Akari exhibition in New York. Designs sets and costumes for Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear. Designs set for Martha Graham's Seraphic Dialogue.
Photos: Seraphic Dialogue, King Lear |
| 1956 |
Begins work on gardens for UNESCO headquarters, Paris (completed 1958), and for Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Bloomfield Hills, Connecticut (completed 1957). Begins work on waterfall wall and ceiling for 666 Fifth Avenue, New York (completed 1958). Creates cast iron sculptures in Japan.
Photos: UNESCO garden, 666 Fifth Avenue ceiling, 666 Fifth Avenue waterfall |
| 1957 |
January — divorced from Shirley Yamaguchi. Designs memorial commemorating the 2500th birthday of Buddha for New Delhi competition (unrealized). Travels to Japan to search for stones for UNESCO. |
| 1958 |
Re-settles in New York after completion of UNESCO gardens. Creates sheet aluminum sculpture at factory of lighting designer Edison Price, with assistance of Shoji Sadao. Designs sets for Martha Graham's Clytemnestra and Embattled Garden.
Photo: Embattled Garden |
| 1959 |
Creates body of white marble sculptures when Eleanor Ward refuses to exhibit aluminum sculptures at his spring Stable Gallery exhibition. Begins a series of balsa wood sculptures that will be cast in bronze in Italy in 1962, and a series of stone sculptures using the circular image of the sun.
Photos: Stable Gallery exhibition 1, Stable Gallery exhibition 2 |
| 1960 |
Begins work on sculptures for First National City Bank Building Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas (completed 1961). Begins work on the Sunken Garden for Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (completed 1964); and on the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden, Israel Museum, Jerusalem (completed 1965). Designs sets for Martha Graham's Acrobats of God and Alcestis. July — included in Documenta II, Kassel, West Germany.
Photos; Beinecke garden, Billy Rose Sculpture Garden |
| 1961 |
Establishes studio and living quarters in former factory building in Long Island City, Queens, across the East River from Manhattan. Begins work on the Sunken Garden for Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza, New York (completed 1964). Begins five-year collaboration with Louis Kahn, issuing in five designs for a Riverside Drive Playground, New York (unrealized). Begins work on Mississippi Fountain for John Hancock Insurance Company Building, New Orleans, Louisiana (completed 1962).
Photos: Chase Manhattan Plaza, Riverside Drive Playground |
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