Isamu Noguchi’s Garden That’s Suspended in Time

The Noguchi Garden in Mure is like an open-air museum and brings together over one hundred sculptures by Isamu Noguchi.

Noguchi, who passed away in 1988, is known for his conceptual, modern approach. He was notably behind the Bakelite intercom created for Zenith Radio Corporation in 1937, the sculpture created in 1938 that appears on the Rockefeller Center in New York, and the iconic glass coffee table and Akari lamps, which are known worldwide.

Born in Los Angeles in 1904, Noguchi was the son of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and American writer Leonie Gilmour. In 1927, he received funding from the Guggenheim Foundation, which would prove a decisive point in his career. He then went to Japan, where he learnt to work with clay under master potter Jinmatsu Uno.

Later, he went on to work in planning and creating outside spaces, producing numerous gardens, squares and sets, which continue to inspire contemporary creation. The Noguchi Garden preserves the atmosphere that could be found in the sculptor’s workshop. This timeless place holds his archives, which are available for the purposes of scientific research.