The multifarious work of Isamu Noguchi has travelled the globe, redefining the boundaries of sculpture both during his lifetime and beyond. In celebration of his creativity and to coincide with a new retrospective at London’s Barbican, the acclaimed New York-based novelist Katie Kitamura conjures a dozen illuminating fragments inspired by the visionary Japanese-American artist’s life and work. Her writing is presented alongside photography capturing fresh perspectives of the artist’s works housed at the Noguchi Museum in Queens, New York, which is dedicated to preserving his legacy.
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Momo Taro sits atop a hill at the Storm King Art Center in upstate New York. A sculpture in nine parts, it is set low to the ground and centres on a large split boulder. One side is hollowed out into a sizeable cavity, evoking a split fruit. The sculpture is inspired by the Japanese folk tale about a baby boy found inside a giant peach. Momo Taro contains nooks and hollows, a work that invites the play and privacy of childhood.
Several months before his death, Noguchi went to Storm King to visit his sculpture. As he approached the hill, he saw a small child playing on it. She asked him to join her within the cavity of the peach and together they disappeared inside. When Noguchi emerged a
