In the late 1960s Isamu Noguchi established a studio in Japan on the island of Shikoku, and here he carved the large granite and basalt sculptures that culminated his career. In Noguchi's late work stone became a symbol of nature, and carving became a metaphor for the human confrontation with the temporal, for our intersection with historical, geological and astronomical time. Although a number of these works are smoothly polished, most of the late sculptures have large areas of unworked surface, presenting the stone as it emerged from the earth. The Noguchi Museum displays the largest collection of Noguchi's late stone sculpture.