Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi
On view at The Noguchi Museum
September 20, 2007 - May 25, 2008

Isamu Kenmochi and Isamu Noguchi first met at the architect Kenzo Tange’s office at Tokyo University June 24th, 1950. From August of that same year, Noguchi spent approximately two weeks at the Industrial Arts Research Institute in Tokyo where Kenmochi was serving as a technical officer. The two Isamus shared a similar mission: to create and design a universally exceptional object, something with an intrinsic beauty of simplicity that is grounded in the knowledge of natural materials but also combined with a vision and embrace of experimental techniques and materials. Based in Japanese traditions of design, they both understood that this shared mission needed to go beyond the mere exotic.

One of Kenmochi’s and Noguchi’s many collaborations resulted in a strikingly original woven bamboo chair made in 1950. This actual chair is no longer extant but will be recreated for the purpose of this exhibition. It is a classical sculptural form of texture and beauty as well as representing a technical accomplishment, distilling the natural elasticity and strength of bamboo with the durability and efficiency of iron. Together these two artists and designers made a chair that created a sense of lightness in modern design with a charm of warm, seemingly traditional tactility.

Photographer: Lisa Quiñones

SURVEY OF PARIS ABSTRACTIONS
May 24, 2007 - August 26, 2007
This exhibition highlights the formal vocabulary of geometric abstraction that Noguchi first explored in 1928 after his apprenticeship to Constantine Brancusi.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PERMANENT COLLECTION
May 24, 2007 - August 26, 2007
Some 250 works from the permanent collection of which include several new acquisitions are installed in the second floor galleries.

SHIN BANRAISHA: A Cultural Memory
November 1, 2006 - April 15, 2007
Approximately forty photographic panels document the creation and destruction of this collaboration between architect Yoshirō Taniguchi, interior designer Isamu Kenmochi, and Isamu Noguchi.

BEST OF FRIENDS: R. Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi
May 19, 2006 – October 15, 2006
Best of Friends: Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi, curated by Shoji Sadao, looks closely at the vital friendship and collaboration between Buckminster Fuller, an icon of modern creative and scientific thought, and Isamu Noguchi, one of the of twentieth century's most acclaimed sculptors and designers.

THE IMAGERY OF CHESS REVISITED
October 21, 2005 – April 16, 2006
The Noguchi Museum recreates and expands the groundbreaking 1944 exhibition organized by Marcel Duchamp and Max Ernst at the Julien Levy Gallery. In addition to Isamu Noguchi, the exhibition features original designs by artists such as Man Ray, Arshile Gorky and Yves Tanguy.

CHESS SET DESIGN COMPETITION PROTOTYPES
October 21, 2005 – April 16, 2006
Winning entries from The Noguchi Museum’s collegiate design competition will be exhibited in The Design Gallery during the run of The Imagery of Chess Revisited.

Highlights from the Permanent Collection
June 1, 2005 - September 10, 2005
Works from the permanent collection are reinstalled in the second floor galleries as originally conceived by Isamu Noguchi.

NOGUCHI'S COLLECTIBLES
June 1, 2005 - September 10, 2005
This installation at The Noguchi Museum displays a number of never before exhibited objects from Noguchi's personal collection, revealing his private sense of design, simplicity and its cultural basis. Noguchi's Collectibles presents a rare opportunity to better understand Noguchi's approach to sculpture and design.

NOGUCHI AND GRAHAM: Selected Works for Dance
December 2, 2004 - May 1, 2005
Noguchi and Graham: Selected Works for Dance includes nine of the nineteen dance sets Isamu Noguchi designed for Martha Graham, as well as supplementary footage of the dances being performed, archival photographs, and ephemera.

The Design Gallery
December 2, 2004 - May 1, 2005
The inaugural design gallery exhibit features never before seen collage studies for a theater curtain in Tokyo, unique and vintage table designs, as well as an early stand prototype for Akari lamps.

ISAMU NOGUCHI: Sculptural Design
Organized by the Vitra Design Museum, conceived and installed by Robert Wilson. June 12, 2004 through October 3, 2004

THE BOLLINGEN JOURNEY: Noguchi's Travels Through Photographs and Drawings 1949-51 February 13 through October 13, 2003
The Noguchi Museum - Sunnyside (Temporary location)

ZEN NO ZEN:Aspects of Noguchi's Sculptural Vision
February 23 through June 2, 2002
The Noguchi Museum - Sunnyside (Temporary location)

NOGUCHI: SCULPTURE AND NATURE Bringing the Garden into the Gallery
June 29, 2002 through January 13, 2003
The Noguchi Museum - Sunnyside (Temporary location)

Metamorphosis in Clay: Noguchi in Kamakura
ICO Fundacion, Madrid
October 2006 through January 2007

Isamu Noguchi: Connecting the World Through Sculpture
Yokohama Museum of Art
April 2006 through June 2006

Shiga Prefectural Museum
July 2006 September 2006

Takamatsu Museum of Art
September 2006 through November 2006

Between Heaven and Earth
University of Central Florida
January 19, 2006 through March 6, 2006

Isamu Noguchi
The Museum of Contemporary Art Sapporo, Japan
July 2, 2005 through August 28, 2005

Isamu Noguchi
The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, Japan
September 16, 2005 - November 27, 2005

Isamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
February 5, 2006 - May 14, 2006
Organized by the Vitra Design Museum

Isamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design
The Seattle Art Museum
June, 2005 - September, 2005
Organized by the Vitra Design Museum

Sculpture in Stone, Steel and Bronze
Lever House
February 2003 - 2006
Park Avenue between 52nd & 53rd Streets
1 Chase Manhattan Plaza, New York City

Noguchi: The Bollingen Journey
The Heckscher Museum of Art, Long Island, NY
August 20, 2005 - November 13, 2005
Organized by The Noguchi Museum

Noguchi: The Bollingen Journey
Bellingham University, WA
April, 2005 – June 12, 2005
Organized by The Noguchi Museum