record 1 of 1
About the Object
Isamu Noguchi's father was a Japanese poet and his mother was an American writer. Although he was born in California and lived much of his life in the U.S., Noguchi's travels reflected his own East-West duality. The artist spent his childhood traveling throughout Japan with his mother. As a young man he went to Paris to study with the abstract sculptor Constantin Brancusi. In China, he studied the ancient art of calligraphy.
In the sleek, mid-century forms of Calligraphics, Noguchi combined his love of modern sculpture and calligraphy. The two shapes suggest abstract versions of Japanese characters: ni meaning "the sun" (like the red sun on the flag of Japan) and hon meaning "the origin" (perhaps his own).