Journal of Student Research 2012

Isamu Noguchi’s Utopian Landscapes

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trees, a pine grove, gardens, visits to temples, and a playground that was unwelcoming: “I came to know a playground, or open space, that filled me with foreboding” (Noguchi, 1967, p.12). Noguchi’s childhood experiences, as well as those of his youth lead him to seek to fundamentally change his natural surroundings through his work. As a young artist, living in New York City, Noguchi worked extensively on formal small-scale sculptures, often portrait heads, but was ultimately dissatisfied with making decorative objects for the elite. He found the work limiting and disapproved of its reliance upon vanity, its focus upon the individual. He wished for his sculpture to communicate more meaningfully to others and to function on a grander scale (Noguchi, 1967). This impulse turned his attention to a passion for the design of public spaces: landscapes, playgrounds, and monumental sculpture. Noguchi was influenced by the modernist idealism of his friend inventor Buckminster Fuller, architect Louis Kahn, and seminal modernist architect Le Corbusier. He combined this contemporary aesthetic with influence gained in his childhood in Japan, incorporating the traditional simplicity of Japanese gardens and temples. He was a friend of the abstract painters Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning, as well as other members of the New York School of prominent abstract artists. This aesthetic informed his sculpture, as well as that of his mentor, influential sculptor Constantin Brancusi, with whom he briefly apprenticed in Paris (Noguchi, 1967). Noguchi’s career shows that the design of public space is inherently political and reveals the designer’s aspirations and beliefs about the world, which are expressed through the aesthetic and functional aspects of each design. Noguchi saw landscape design as a way to merge art and function in a way that was truly democratic. Qualities of universality and neutrality are often desired in the design of public spaces, but these choices in themselves are impactful and ultimately political (Harrisson, 2003). The character of a public space, traditional or contemporary, economical or opulent, communicates visually and functionally to the user (Lawson, 2001). Landscape design conveys the values of a community and ultimately impacts whether individuals are welcomed or excluded from a space. Designed spaces can profoundly affect individuals, communities, and society at large. Public places are ideally open to all people, regardless of class, race or economic status. Noguchi created spaces to accommodate a society that