Isamu Noguchi, Entasis of a Pentagonal Helix, 1984. Basalt sculpture installed in the Noguchi Museum...
On View   Original Collection

Entasis of a Pentagonal Helix

1984
Basalt
Entasis refers to the thickening of the central part of the columns of Green temples. Neither is this exclusively Greek. The helix, which is a spiral, produces the same effect when applied to a geometrical column such as a square, an octagon, or a pentagon like this. The result is an effect of aliveness. As is well known, all nature tends to the helix–from the flow of water, to wind, tropical storms, or the flow of blood.
Original Noguchi Collection
Quotations by Isamu Noguchi from The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1987), unless otherwise noted.