ISAMU NOGUCHI IS ONE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY'S MOST IMPORTANT AND CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SCULPTORS.

THROUGH A LIFETIME OF ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTATION, HE CREATED SCULPTURES, GARDENS, FURNITURE AND LIGHTING DESIGNS, CERAMICS, ARCHITECTURE, LANDSCAPES, AND SET DESIGNS. 

NOGUCHI WAS BORN IN LOS ANGELES, BUT MOVED TO JAPAN WITH HIS MOTHER AT THE AGE OF TWO AND LIVED THERE UNTIL THE AGE OF THIRTEEN. IN THE SUMMER OF 1918, NOGUCHI RETURNED ALONE TO THE UNITED STATES. 

WHENEVER GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO VENTURE INTO THE MASS-PRODUCTION OF HIS DESIGNS, NOGUCHI SEIZED IT. IN 1937, HE DESIGNED A BAKELITE INTERCOM FOR THE ZENITH RADIO CORPORATION, AND IN 1947, HIS GLASS-TOPPED TABLE WAS PRODUCED BY HERMAN MILLER. THIS DESIGN AND OTHERS - SUCH AS HIS DESIGNS FOR AKARI LIGHT SCULPTURES WHICH WERE INITIALLY DEVELOPED IN 1951 USING TRADITIONAL JAPANESE MATERIALS - ARE STILL BEING PRODUCED TODAY.

IN 1985, NOGUCHI OPENED THE ISAMU NOGUCHI GARDEN MUSEUM (NOW KNOWN AS THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM), IN LONG ISLAND CITY, NEW YORK. THE MUSEUM, ESTABLISHED AND DESIGNED BY THE ARTIST, MARKED THE CULIMINATION OF HIS COMMITMENT TO PUBLIC SPACES. LOCATED IN A 1920S INDUSTRIAL BUILDING ACROSS THE STREET FROM WHERE THE ARTIST HAD ESTABLISHED A STUDIO IN 1960, IT HAS A SERENE OUTDOOR SCULPTURE GARDEN, AND MANY GALLERIES THAT DISPLAY NOGUCHI'S WORK, ALONG WITH PHOTOGRAPHS, DRAWINGS, AND MODELS FROM HIS CAREER. HE ALSO INDICATED THAT HIS STUDIO IN MURE, JAPAN, BE PRESERVED TO INSPIRE ARTISTS AND SCHOLARS; A WISH THAT WAS FULFILLED WITH THE OPENING OF THE ISAMU NOGUCHI GARDEN MUSEUM JAPAN IN 1999.