This exhibition is focused on Isamu Noguchi’s international and hybrid exploration of tools and materials. Fifty of Noguchi’s tools in the collection of The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, are on loan for this exhibition. 

As the child of a Japanese father and white American mother, Noguchi’s journey as a user of tools would begin from a set of Japanese carpentry tools. He gained some skill in the construction of his mother’s house in Chigasaki. In Constantin Brancusi’s atelier he learned another style of woodworking, and in his studios in New York City and Mure, Japan, he mixed tools from many different material working traditions and many time periods, from traditional to high-tech. Learn more about the exhibition at dougukan.jp.

Isamu Noguchi TOOLS is made possible with support from Institut français du Japon and Kobe Shimbun; and through the cooperation of The Isamu Noguchi Foundation of Japan, Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum Japan; The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York; Ozeki Co. Ltd.; Villa Kujoyama; and Conde House.