Rain Mountain, Duo, Neo-Lithic

Isamu Noguchi’s galvanised-steel sculptures Rain Mountain, Duo and Neo-Lithic (left to right), all from 1982-83, express his lifelong engagement with sculpture, the landscape and the bodily sensorium. Drawing inspiration from ancient forms and modern technologies as well as his own Japanese and American cultural inheritances, Noguchi sought to create works offering an experience of space and presence, stating “I want sculpture equal to myself walking”.

Over the course of his long career, Noguchi experimented with paper, stone, wood, slate, ceramics, and iron, choosing materials appropriate to the sculpture’s environment. He associated metal and industrial fabrication with America, writing “It seemed to me absurd to be working with rocks and stones in New York, where walls of glass and steel are our horizon, and our landscape is that of boxes piled high in the air.”

Year: 1982-83 (2019-20)