Taking note of Noguchi's art books will help in understanding of how his sculptures are ideally presented by established publishers, the tone of voice associate in explaining his work and how it all appeals to their target audience. This context will help shape the look of the publication in order to effectively communicate the content.
(Glimcher, 2000)
Glimcher, M. (2000). Earthly Forms: the biomorphic sculpture of Arp, Calder, Noguchi. New York: PaceWildenstein.
In Marc Glimer's opening essay, abstraction goes into deep analysis. Abstraction was a quality that was extensively explored by Noguchi.
"Of these Supermatists and Dadaists saw abstraction as more than culture or style, they saw it as a way to elevate art to a highest level of philosophical, intellectual, and spiritual exploration" (Glimcher, 2000, p.6).
The characteristic biomorphic forms of these artists were a reflection of their exploration of "the natural world without representing it directly. The result was an expression of nature laws and character, rather than its imagery" (Glimcher, 2000, p.7).
On Noguchi
"Whatever the method of construction, they engage fully in the exploration of what Noguchi called the 'irreducible' or 'primal matter'. Noguchi's specturm of abstraction was significantly broader than his contemporaries. As a result he explored how abstraction could relate to design, dance, as well as urban planning" (Glimcher, 2000, p.15).
"Noguchi believed that his work was offering a new understanding of the world and life" (Glimcher, 2000, p.15).
"Many commentators have noted that the work combines the compositional techniques of Asian art and antiquities; simplicity, counterbalance and stillness, with the surrealistic elements of European sculpture" (Glimcher, 2000, p.15).
"He, like all great artists, was helped to see things by those who came before, but then explored them on his own" (Glimcher, 2000, p.15).
Sculptural inspiration for typographic compositions
The Field (The Seed), 1948
redwood and marble
6 x 10 1/2 x 11
Private collection
Strange Bird (To the Sunflower), 1945
bronze
56 3/4 x 22 1/2 x 20"
Little Slate, 1945
bronze
11 1/4 x 11 1/4 x 6 3/4"
Sculpture with Driftwood, 1940
wood and metal
56 1/2"
Private Collection
Untitled, c. 1940-49
wood
24 1/4 x 20 x 5"
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.
E=mc2, 1944
paper
13 1/2 x 12 3/4 x 12"
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.
Gregory (Effigy), 1945-1988
bronze
67 1/2 x 15 3/4 x 12"
Yellow Landscape, 1943
bronze
29 x 27 x 3 1/2"
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.
Rememberance, 1944
mohagany
50 1/4 x 24 x 9"
The Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Inc.
(Strick, 1998)
Strick, J. (1998). Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Water. New York: PaceWildenstein.
This book's main appeal is how Noguchi's sculptures are presented.
The book is designed with an emphasis on stock texture to create a highly tactile reading experience.
The cover is from a thick recycled stock, set in a dark brown that gives the publication an earthy feel. By debossing the forms on the cover, it emphasises the sculptural nature of the content as well as encouraging the reader to interact with the publication.
The inside pages are made from thinner recycled stock, communicated through the visible flecks. The beige coloured stock against the mild brown copy is soft on the eyes, and keeps the overall aesthetic of the book consistent.
The most characteristic aspect are the pages of Noguchi's sculptures.
The images are printed on glossy card, separate to the book's stock, as if its an actual photograph. The high res quality of these photographs allow for a clearer look of the sculptures details as well as making it seem like its there on the page.
Through this method, the publication effectively becomes a photo book of Noguchi's sculptures that adds a special quality to the overall publication.
Quotes on Noguchi's career
"In 1969, Isamu Noguchi established a studio in the village of Mure, near the city of Takamatsu, on the Japanese island of Shikoku." (Strick, 1998, p.5)
"Over the course of a long and prolific career, Noguchi's years at Mure must be counted among the artist's most productive. Working exclusively in stone, Noguchi revisited forms and themes that had preoccupied him for decades, even as he set out in new directions, exploring materials and ideas with a remarkable freedom, assurance, and intensity." (Strick, 1998, p.5)
"Yet the two decades during which Noguchi worked at Mure also marked the period of his greatest success as a public artist." (Strick, 1998, p.5)
"Close to a number of architects and attuned to their sensibilities, he understood his role to be that of a shaper of space as well as a maker of objects. Influenced, perhaps, by the sets he had designed for dance productions, Noguchi viewed space not as a static entity, but rather as a medium through which movement occurs." (Strick, 1998, p.5)
"Above all, he was committed to the idea and purpose of public art, eagerly seeking commissions in order to enrich and even transform the daily life of those who came into contact with his work." (Strick, 1998, p.5)
"Indeed, Mure itself can be seen as Noguchi's most complex and significant environmental work. And yet this painstakingly created environment was not intended to function as a finite, fixed monument. Rather, it served as an inspiration for creation and experimentation." (Strick, 1998, p.6)
"Unitary geometric shapes inflected by slight irregularities–a rounded corner and a curved notch along one edge of Awakening, a series of expanding and contradicting flat panes that follow the curve and define the surface of the untitled work –reveal Noguchi at his most refined and subtle." (Strick, 1998, p.7)
Noguchi's thoughts on the role of an artist
"To me the complete artist is one who is devoted to seking the furthest implications of his art. To this end there are essentially no hard boundaries of categories in the arts–the only limitation are in the artist himself with the strength, inspiration, and ability of the moment. The moment of confrontation with the problem at hand. At this moment he may be momentarily be said to be artist, a complete artist, otherwise he is nothing. He may of course, be a specialist such as I have described, he may even be able to frame every reply in terms of his specialised craft, but this seems hardly likely. Rather in maintaining an open view of the world, with its multiplicity, and the variety of its situations, I believe he will want to break all limits. I believe the time will soon come when the complete artist like the complete scientist must transcend his speciality. The limits of orthodoxy are always crumbling and those who now venture into the arts must swim for it upon a fluid tide."
Isamu Noguchi, c. 1960
Untitled, 1985
Ibaragi granite with stainless steel plate and stones
33 1/2 x 58 x 40" overall installed; 30 x 58 x 40" sculpture on 3 1/2" high stone bed
Untitled, 1983
Nose granite
86 1/2 x 40 1/2" diameter overall installed; 83 1/2 x 22 x 24" sculpture on 3 x 40 1/2" diameter base
Fountain (Proposed for Seagram's Building), 1987
basalt
43 1/4 x 51 x 38" overall installed; 39 3/4 x 51 x 38" sculpture on 3 1/2" high stone bed
basalt
40 1/2 x 46 x 36" overall installed; 37 x 46 x 36" sculpture on 3 1/2" high stone bed
Mountain Landscape (Bench), 1981
basalt
25 x 83 1/2 x 28" overall installed; 21 1/2 x 83 1/2 x 28" sculpture on 3 1/2 high base
"Either way, the aesthetic power of Mountain Landscape (Bench) results from its combination of found material and texture with a form that is quite specific in its reference and function; and of rough and irregular shapes with carefully planned and painstakingly executed passages of cut, chiseled, and polished stone. It is as if a bench had been discovered by the artist in a raw slab of stone." (Strick, 1998, p.7)
basalt
21 x 39 x 39" overall installed; 17 x 32 x 15" sculpture on 4 x 39 x 39" base
Awakening, 1983 - 86
basalt
80 x 39 x 39 overall installed; 76 x 12 5/8 x 14" sculpture on 4 x 39 x 39" wood base
Swedish granite
15 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 32" installed; 3 1/2 x 40 1/2 x 32" sculpture on 12 x 23 x 23" base
"Galaxy Calligraphy is thus perceived as a series of fundamental contrasts: circle against rectangle, convex against concave against flat, smooth against chiseled, regular against irregular. These oppositions, which can be expressed as words, reveal essential qualities of the sculptures substance, the inherent properties of Swedish granite: its colour, textures, the shapes it can describe, seem brought out by the application of those concepts." (Strick, 1998, p.7)
Endless Coupling, 1988
red Swedish granite
94 1/2 x 23 3/4 x 23 3/4" overall installed; 86 x 19 x 19" sculpture on 8 1/2 x 23 3/4 x 23 3/4" base
"By its title and form, Endless Coupling pays conspicuous homage to Brancusi, while revealing Noguchi's continued fascination with the biomorphic forms he first developed in his slate sculptures and dance sets of the 1940s." (Strick, 1998, p.6)
"Despite its monumental scale, the red granite Endless Coupling displays a striking degree of sensuality. Its smooth surfaces reveal soft, mottled colours, and at the point where the two pillars meet, they curve tenderly around, seeming to embrace one another." (Strick, 1998, p.6)
Fullness with void, 1984
basalt
46 1/2 x 44 x 34" overall installed; 39 x 29 3/4 x 19 3/4" sculpture on 7 1/2 x 44 x 34" base
"A roughly oval block of basalt, it explores the differences between surface and shape."(Strick, 1998, p.8)
"The cuts give to the sculpture an anthropomorphic appearance. The largest cut, two slices into a side that meet in a straight line which separates two roughly equal triangles, seems to define the waist of a figure. A rectangular indentation that lies opposite might be taken for the figure's stomach. The rounded edges of the indentation at top suggest a head, while the triangular indentation at bottom (three triangles that meet at a point) might indicate female genitalia." (Strick, 1998, p.8)
Similarly to the other art books made on Noguchi's sculptures, isamu noguchi features a quiet design treatment, allowing his sculptures to be the main focal point. This is communicated through the minimal use of typography, black and white photography and limited use of copy. Like most of Nougchi's publications, there is a definite emphasis on the visual element rather than to detail the entirety of Noguchi's prolific career.
On the cover, the wide tracking of 'isamu noguchi' slows down the reading and forces the reader to notice each letterform, as though they are sculptural forms themselves. This may or may not be an intentional design choice.
An interesting feature of the publication are the occasional translucent pages that almost provide context to the sculpture on the subsequent page. The translucent pages predominantly showcase the interior space of Noguchi's MacDougal Alley studio.
"A roughly oval block of basalt, it explores the differences between surface and shape."(Strick, 1998, p.8)
"The cuts give to the sculpture an anthropomorphic appearance. The largest cut, two slices into a side that meet in a straight line which separates two roughly equal triangles, seems to define the waist of a figure. A rectangular indentation that lies opposite might be taken for the figure's stomach. The rounded edges of the indentation at top suggest a head, while the triangular indentation at bottom (three triangles that meet at a point) might indicate female genitalia." (Strick, 1998, p.8)
Similarly to the other art books made on Noguchi's sculptures, isamu noguchi features a quiet design treatment, allowing his sculptures to be the main focal point. This is communicated through the minimal use of typography, black and white photography and limited use of copy. Like most of Nougchi's publications, there is a definite emphasis on the visual element rather than to detail the entirety of Noguchi's prolific career.
On the cover, the wide tracking of 'isamu noguchi' slows down the reading and forces the reader to notice each letterform, as though they are sculptural forms themselves. This may or may not be an intentional design choice.
An interesting feature of the publication are the occasional translucent pages that almost provide context to the sculpture on the subsequent page. The translucent pages predominantly showcase the interior space of Noguchi's MacDougal Alley studio.
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