These pieces come from two major Japanese collections. Highlighted by the stunning Love of Two Boards is a major gift of works from Noguchi’s friend and collaborator, Tsutomu Hiroi, a famous kite-maker who helped Noguchi develop his Akari light sculptures. The other group comes from the family of an assistant of Noguchi’s and features a small centipede which relates to his Even the Centipede, the great masterpiece of his work in clay, now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

As evidenced by the instruction he gave his business manager in the 1980s never to sell any of his ceramics, Noguchi had a particularly proprietary feeling about them. For that reason, we are very pleased to announce and present this important addition to the permanent collection.

A large selection of Noguchi’s ceramics will be included this fall at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX in Return to Earth: Ceramics of Fontana, Melotti, Miro, Picasso and Noguchi, 1943-1963, the first exhibition to survey the post-war work of these modernist sculptors in clay.