Isamu Noguchi

I started this blog September 6, 2010. Some of you have been readers since the beginning. Others have come on board later. From now through the end of the month, I'm going to be on a short blogging break. Not only am I in the middle of a big volunteer project, I'm also trying to help get the new store open, so I've decided share some of my favorite posts from the past four years. I'll throw in a few new photos for you longtime supporters who read the posts when they were first published.

(First posted 9/23/2010)

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was born in Los Angeles, the son of an Irish-American mother and a Japanese father.  He spent his childhood in Japan and his adolescence and adulthood in the United States, and for the rest of his life, he was at home in both places.

Noguchi moved to New York to become a pre-med student at Columbia University, where he also enrolled in a sculpture class.  Art won out, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1927 led to an apprenticeship in the studio of Constantin Brancusi.  When he returned to New York, associations with technological visionary Buckminster Fuller and choreographer Martha Graham allowed him to explore new facets of his talent.

His first widely distributed design was the Radio Nurse of 1937, and the later Guardian Ear, an object containing a microphone, would pick up sounds from a child’s room.  In 1944 he revised a design he had created to illustrate the George Nelson article “How to Make a Table.” The biomorphic coffee table was put into production in 1947 by Herman Miller and became one of his best-known works.

His famous three-legged cylinder lamp was first made as a gift for his sister in 1944 or 1945.  He began designing his beautiful Akari lamps in 1951, which are still manufactured in Gifu, Japan, by the same company that began producing them in the early 1950s.  His wire and wood rocking stools were designed in 1953, and in 1957 Hans Knoll enlarged the small stool to the full-size Cyclone Table as a companion piece to Harry Bertoia’s wire chairs.

From the Fifties on, Noguchi’s focus was on what he called “the sculpture of spaces,” and he designed gardens, playgrounds and plazas.

From the essay “Isamu Noguchi: Art Into Life” by Bruce Altshuler on noguchi.org
Photos from noguchi.org.

Isamu Noguchi, 1951

Bakelite Radio Nurse, 1937
Manufactured by the Zenith Radio Company

Cloud sofa and ottoman, c. 1948
Manufactured by Herman Miller

Custom beech table for William A. M. Burden, 1948

Rocking Stools, 1955
Manufactured by Knoll

Coffee table, 1944
Manufactured by Herman Miller

Cyclone table, 1957
Manufactured by Knoll

Akari floor lamps, 1950s
Manufactured in Gifu, Japan

My favorite photo of Noguchi
noguchi.org

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As a sidenote, our Noguchi rocking stool will be included in the Wright auction to be held October 23. Remember how it looked when we got it?

Our Noguchi rocking stool (before)

Now here it is in the Wright catalog, all clean and shiny and ready for a new home. Wish us luck!

Pronunciation Guide

The iconic kidney table

Mid-century designers, from the famous to the anonymous, loved natural forms and shapes. It's no surprise, then, that the human body served as a source of inspiration. After all, what's more organic than an organ?

The kidney shaped table was an iconic design piece in the 1950s. Made of wood, glass, metal, tile or Formica, it graced both mansions and tiny apartments. Take a look back at a few of them.

Adrian Pearsall kidney table
1stdibs.com

Isamu Noguchi table
1stdibs.com

Enzo Mari kidney tables
1stdibs.com

Victor DiNovi kidney table
1stdibs.com

Charlotte Perriand kidney tables
1stdibs.com

Italian lazy susan kidney table
1stdibs.com

Mosaic kidney table
1stdibs.com

Formica kidney table
icollector.com

Kidney table by Lane
houzz.com

In the store: Noguchi transformation

Some of you may recall our acquisition a couple of months ago of a very rare early Noguchi child's rocking stool. Here it is as we found it, photographed in front of street art near the store.

Noguchi rocking stool in original condition

While I loved it exactly as it was, the decision was made to have it restored, since many of our customers like a somewhat less "rode hard and put up wet" look, to use a common expression from the Texas vernacular. Here is the Noguchi stool, reborn and ready for many more decades of use.

Noguchi Museum

Japanese-American sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi founded the Noguchi Museum to display what he considered representative examples of his body of work. Noguchi identified himself foremost as a sculptor, considering his other designs primarily sources of income. The museum opened in 1985 in Long Island City, New York.

The museum complex is an open-air sculpture garden within a building containing ten galleries. Visitors enter the two-story building through the sculpture garden. The bottom floor houses the permanent collection of the artist's work, while the upper floor presents temporary exhibitions of his work. The building itself is considered one of Noguchi's finest works.

Featured objects include his Akari Light Sculptures, lamps made from washi paper and bamboo ribbing, which were first produced in Japan in the 1950s, as well as his furniture designs, including the Noguchi table, which is still manufactured by Herman Miller.

All images from noguchi.org

Isamu Noguchi

Akari Light Sculptures

Sculpture Garden

Sculpture Garden 

Gallery View

Tsuneko San, 1931

Mother and Child, 1944-1947

Folded Torso, 1958-1959

Shodo Flowing, 1960-1962

Walking Void #2, 1970

Narrow Gate, 1981

Noguchi and Kenmochi: The bamboo basket chair

In 1950 Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) made his first trip to Japan following World War II. There he met Japanese industrial designer Isamu Kenmochi (1912-1971). Noguchi became interested in Kenmochi's bamboo basket weaving after seeing this chair.

Rattan basket weave chair by Isamu Kenmochi
nytimes.com

Noguchi came up with a few ideas to incorporate Kenmochi's technique, and the bamboo basket chair emerged from a brief collaboration between the two. The chair uses Kenmochi's basket-weaving plans for the seat and back rest, while Noguchi provided the idea for the base, a looping iron rod similar to that of the Hardoy butterfly chair.

Bamboo basket chair by Noguchi and Kenmochi
nytimes.com

Unfortunately, the chair was never manufactured, and the prototype was lost. However, a copy of the chair was made for the Noguchi Museum using old photographs of the original.

Isamu Noguchi (l) and Isamu Kenmochi (r)
nytimes.com

From nytimes.com

In the store: Noguchi rocking stool

Designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1954, these stools were produced by Knoll for only 5 years. Hans Knoll had Noguchi adapt the design for side tables in that same year, and the full-sized Cyclone dining table went into production in 1957.

We have one of these very rare early rocking stools in our store now. To say that it has a patina would be an understatement, but I think the wear on this particular piece gives it remarkable character. I hope my SIL doesn't plan to have it restored. I love it just the way it is.

Early Noguchi rocking stool, under the ever-watchful eye of street art outside the store

Sold at auction: Paul Evans coffee table

Following on the heels of yesterday's Paul Evans post, you might recall my post about another Paul Evans coffee table we had in the store not too long ago. We sent it to the Wright Design auction, which was held December 12. It was our first time to send a piece to that house, and we were pleased with the result. To see all the beautiful pieces that kept our little table company on the auction floor, including the gorgeous and very rare Isamu Noguchi Cloud ottoman that sold for $170,500 and the Maria Pergay banquette that sold for $158,500, visit the Wright site. You'll be in for a treat.

Isamu Noguchi Cloud ottoman, 1948
Lot 120
wright20.com

Maria Pergay banquette, 1968
Lot 256
wright20.com

Paul Evans coffee table, 1967
Lot 311
wright20.com

It's giveaway time again!

Yes, it's giveaway time at Mid2Mod again, and like last time, I'm running a blog giveaway in conjunction with a giveaway my SIL is doing on Facebook.

I'm offering four pairs of small silver Dansk candleholders designed to hold 1/4-inch tapers. Included are the onion style by Jens Quistgaard, doves and leaves by Gunnar Cyrén and stars, whose designer I do not know. (I estimate the value of these eight candleholders to be approximately $120, based on the average price of the same items currently for sale on eBay and Etsy.)

Dansk candleholders

The rules of the blog giveaway are simple. All you have to do is be a public Google follower (which means you must show up in the Google Followers box as a site member, not follow some other way) AND leave a comment on this post. It's important to do both.

If you're already a Google follower and comment regularly, I'll know who you are, so just say hi. If you don't comment much, remind me that you're already a member, and I'll look you up to verify. (Occasionally, the name attached to your comment is different from the one in the Followers box. If that's the case, tell me, because if I can't find you, I can't count you.)

I'll announce the lucky winner on Saturday, August 4 here on my blog. If you win, you'll email me your address, and I'll ship your prize right out to you. (And, yes, I'll ship internationally!)

It's easy to be a site member. In the Google Followers box to the right of this post, click on Join this site. Once you have set up a Google account, click Follow publicly, and you're done.

As a bonus, when you enter my blog giveaway, you'll automatically be entered in our Facebook giveaway, receiving an extra entry if you're already participating in that contest. You won't believe what my SIL is giving away this time!

Vintage Knoll Cyclone table by Isamu Noguchi

Yes, that's right. He's giving away a genuine vintage 36" diameter Noguchi Cyclone table, which is sale priced at $1100 in the store. These sell new today for $1898.

To enter for a chance to win this iconic table, go to our Facebook page and follow the rules for that contest. And remember you get an extra entry if you join my site (or are already a member) AND comment on this post.

In the store: Surfaces and seating

Lately we've been buying quite a bit of new inventory, but most of it has been project pieces that are either being restored now or are in line to be refinished or reupholstered, so I haven't posted pictures in a while. We finally picked up a few things that didn't need restoration and went straight to the floor.

Just yesterday morning my SIL picked up this Knoll Cyclone table by Isamu Noguchi. It's a real beauty in excellent original condition which had been used in the break room at a local doctor's office for decades.

Knoll Cyclone table by Isamu Noguchi

Here's a great little Danish tea cart in teak that will soon have new casters. The top lifts off to be used as a tray. I had one similar to this before I got my larger glass-topped one, and I loved it. Whoever gets this one will have a little gem.

Teak tea cart with removable tray

These Danish cane-backed chairs are in great condition. I love the angled backs. If these were mine, I'd reupholster the seats in a heavy, nubby fabric and then put some sort of low, eye-catching table between them.

Danish cane-backed chairs

This is a very early Knoll Tulip table by Eero Saarinen. It has some edge wear, but at the moment we're not planning to have it refinished. This is the type piece some serious collectors prefer in original condition, so we'll probably leave the restoration decisions to the buyer.

Early Knoll Tulip table by Eero Saarinen

Paul McCobb lovers will recognize this Planner Group desk and chair immediately. The iconic pair will probably be sold quickly, as they are in high demand.

Planner Group desk and chair by Paul McCobb

The  pièce de résistance is this huge Royal System wall unit by Poul Cadovius. This baby is massive and takes up a huge section of wall in the store. It was bought in Denmark in the 1960s by a friend of my SIL's family.

Royal System wall unit by Poul Cadovius