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1904-31 | 1932-49 | 1950-61 | 1962-88
This chronology appears in Bruce Altshuler, Isamu Noguchi
(New York: Abbeville Press, 1994), pp.113-116 |
| 1932 |
February -- exhibits Peking brush drawings and Chinese ceramic sculpture. Makes Miss Expanding Universe, an image of dancer Ruth Page, and designs sack costume for her. Evicted from Sherwood Studios at 58 West 57th Street, and moves to storefront at 446 East 76th Street. Angna acquired by Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. |
| 1933 |
January -- publication of first full-length essay on Noguchi, written by Julien Levy. Moves to better quarters at the Hotel des Artistes, 1 West 67th Street. Summer -- travels to London and exhibits Peking brush drawings. Designs first large-scale public projects -- Monument to the Plow, Play Mountain, and Monument to Ben Franklin -- as well as Musical Weathervane (all unrealized).
See Photo: Monument to the Plow, Play Mountain, Monument to Ben Franklin |
| 1934 |
Critic Murdock Pemberton takes Noguchi to present Play Mountain to Robert Moses, New York City Parks Commissioner, who rejects plan with sarcasm. Dropped from government Public Works of Art Project due to non-traditional sculpture submitted for review. Summer -- works in Woodstock, New York to prepare exhibition for winter. Moves studio to 239 East 44th Street. |
| 1935 |
February -- exhibits public projects and political works, including Death (Lynched Figure). Creates first stage design for Martha Graham, Frontier. Leaves New York for California. Sculpts portrait heads in Hollywood, and designs swimming pool for Josef von Sternberg at the request of Richard Neutra (unrealized).
Photos: Death(Lynched Figure), Frontier |
| 1936 |
Travels to Mexico. Works for eight months to create History Mexico, a 72-foot political mural in high relief at the Abelardo Rodriguez Market, Mexico City. Designs set for Martha Graham's Chronicle. |
| 1937 |
Returns to New York, with studio at 211 East 49th Street. Designs first mass-produced object, Radio Nurse intercom for Zenith Radio Corporation.
Photo: Radio Nurse |
| 1938 |
Designs first fountain, Chassis Fountain, to be constructed of magnesite for the Ford Motor Company building at the New York World's Fair. October -- awarded commission for stainless steel relief, News, for the Associated Press Building, Rockefeller Center.
Photos: Chassis Fountain, News |
| 1939 |
Travels to Hawaii at the invitation of Dole along with other artists. Designs his first playground equipment for Ala Moana Park, Honolulu (unrealized). Moves studio to 52 West 10th Street. Designs first table for A. Conger Goodyear, President of the Museum of Modern Art. Works in Boston on casting and finishing of Associated Press Building commission, completed 1940.
Photos: Playground Equipment, Goodyear Table |
| 1940 |
Designs set for Martha Graham's El Penitente. |
| 1941 |
Makes model of Contoured Playground (unrealized) and presents the design to New York City Parks Department. Capital acquired by Museum of Modern Art, New York. Summer -- drives to California with Arshile Gorky and friends. December 7 -- living in Hollywood when Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
Photo: Contoured Playground |
| 1942 |
January -- organizes Nisei Writers and Artists Mobilization for Democracy. March -- travels to Washington in attempt to mitigate hardships of Japanese-American relocation. May -- voluntarily enters Colorado River Relocation Center, Poston, Arizona in order to improve environment of internees. Leaves Poston disillusioned, after six months. Establishes studio at 33 MacDougal Alley, New York.
Photos: Poston, MacDougal Alley Studio |
| 1943 |
Makes first lunar illuminated sculptures, and designs three-legged cylinder lamp to be manufactured by Knoll in 1944. Create mixed media sculptures, as well as carving stone and wood.
Photo: Cylinder Lamp |
| 1944 |
Begins series of interlocking slab sculptures of slate and marble. Designs sets for three works by Martha Graham: Appalachian Spring, Herodiade, and Imagined Wing. Designs set and costumes for Ruth Page's The Bells. Designs biomorphic coffee table and a dinette set, which will be manufactured by Herman Miller in 1947.
Photos: Appalachian Spring, Herodiade, Coffee Table, Dinette Set |
| 1945 |
Designs plan with Edward Durrell Stone for Jefferson Memorial Park, Saint Louis, Missouri (unrealized). Designs set for Erick Hawkins's John Brown.
Photos: Jefferson Memorial Park, John Brown |
| 1946 |
September -- works by Noguchi are exhibited in 14 Americans at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. First important account of Noguchi's work is written by Thomas B. Hess. Designs set for Martha Graham's Dark Meadow.
Photo: 14 Americans |
| 1947 |
Creates lunar ceilings for American Stove Company Building (Saint Louis, Missouri) and Time-Life Building (New York City). Herman Miller Furniture Company begins production of Noguchi designs. Creates model for Memorial to Man, later called Sculpture to be Seen from Mars (unrealized). Designs sets for two Martha Graham works, Errand into the Maze and Night Journey. Designs set for Erick Hawkins's Stephen Acrobat. Designs set and costumes for Merce Cunningham-John Cage work, The Seasons.
Photos: American Stove Company ceiling, Time-Life ceiling, Memorial to Man, Errand into the Maze, Night Journey |
| 1948 |
Designs sets and costumes for George Balanchine's Orpheus, and sets for Martha Graham's Diversion of Angels and Yuriko Amemiya's Tale of Seizure. Creates lunar stairwell for S.S. Argentina (destroyed 1959). Designs park and memorial for Gandhi at Raj-gat, India (unrealized). July 21 -- Arshile Gorky commits suicide, after Noguchi and Wilfredo Lam drive him from New York to his Connecticut home.
Photo: S.S. Argentina |
| 1949 |
March -- Noguchi has first one-person show in New York since 1935 at the Charles Egan Gallery. Awarded fellowship from Bollingen Foundation for a book on "environments of leisure," a work which was not completed. May -- begins travel for Bollingen study to France, England, Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, India, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
Photo: Egan exhibition |
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