“Isamu Noguchi: We Are the Landscape of All We Know” Comes to the Portland Japanese Garden May 3 – July 21

In honor of its 50th Anniversary celebration, the Portland Japanese Garden will host an exhibit by the prestigious Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi, May 3-July 21, 2013.

The exhibition, entitled Isamu Noguchi: We Are the Landscape of All We Know, will feature Noguchi’s famed Akari paper lanterns, and stone and metal sculptures, on loan from the Noguchi Museum in New York.

Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was considered a foremost landscape artist and sculptor. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1926 and later earned a commission from Ford Motor Company to build a fountain out of auto parts at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. He also created sculptures for the Associated Press and Rockefeller Center buildings in New York City. A relationship with Herman Miller led to the iconic Noguchi coffee table, for which he achieved mainstream recognition.

In light of the Noguchi exhibition, the garden plans to extend its Saturday hours to 9pm through July 21, allowing visitors to view the garden and Noguchi sculptures at sunset.All the Noguchi pieces come from the Noguchi Museum in New York City.

The exhibition has been funded in part by a $20,000 grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Photo: David M. Cobb