In 1985, at 80 years old, the influential twentieth-century artist and designer Isamu Noguchi opened his magnum opus: a museum dedicated to the display of his own life’s work. The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, is an artistic sanctuary in the heart of an industrial zone, complete with an open-air sculpture garden and a building that houses ten exhibition rooms. Dedicated to illuminating Noguchi’s vision, the museum is a reflective space in which to experience the broad scope of his sculpture and design.
In honor of this New York institution’s 30th anniversary, Phaidon is pleased to announce the release of The Noguchi Museum | A Portrait (September 28, 2015; $49.95 US, $55.95 CAN.) To celebrate this milestone, The Noguchi Museum commissioned esteemed photographers Tina Barney and Stephen Shore to highlight different visual facets of the museum: Shore on the space and the artwork and Barney on the museum’s visitors.
Shore’s photographs capture the essence of Noguchi’s works and the environment in which they live: the cracked bark of a birch tree, a marble ziggurat model, the steel chain-link fence surrounding the sculpture garden. Barney captures the museum’s diverse collection of viewers: a small boy in pirate hat sitting on a Noguchi-designed couch, a woman with bright orange hair to match her handbag perched on a rocky patch in the sculpture garden, couples, groups and individuals, all engaging with the artwork around them. Together, these images capture the compelling relationship between Noguchi’s works and the museum visitors, as well as the intricate and intimate spatial experience of the only museum in the United States designed by an artist for the display of his own work.
Featuring over 50 never-before-seen photographs and a concise foreword by museum director Jenny Dixon, this book is the first since Noguchi’s self- authored 1987 catalog to place a much-needed focus on the museum itself. Noguchi, a craftsman with a modernist sensibility, intended his museum and artwork to be capable of standing alone, free of explanatory texts. The book mirrors this philosophy, as do Barney and Shore’s captivating portraits.
Including a detailed timeline and an additional selection of archival images, The Noguchi Museum delves into the history of the museum. These narrative photographs, many previously unpublished, illustrate Noguchi’s initial concepts and the complete transformation from a formerly dilapidated warehouse and gas station to a museum that is home to his exciting and innovative oeuvre.
BOOK
The Noguchi Museum | A Portrait
Tina Barney & Stephen Shore
Ed. Phaidon
$49,95
136 pages – 78 colors
ISBN : 978 0 7148 7028 1
