Isamu Noguchi, United Nations Playground, 1952 (cast 1963). Bronze cast of plaster model.

United Nations Playground

1952 (cast 1963)
Metal
My interest in doing a playground persisted, and when the building of the United Nations destroyed the nearby playground, the ladies of Beekman Place banded together and sent a letter to me in Japan asking that I design a new one. My proposal was enthusiastically received by the community, but Robert Moses, who objected to it, built one of his own on the spot himself. There was considerable press protest of Moses’s action, and the Museum of Modern Art showed my playground model.
Original Noguchi Collection
Quotations by Isamu Noguchi from The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987), unless otherwise noted.