ISAMU NOGUCHI | "Home"

Acquired directly from the artist, circa 1959-1960
Thence by descent to the present owner

Isamu Noguchi, The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, September 23-October 19, 1952
Noguchi: Sculpture and Scroll Drawings, The Arts Club of Chicago, November 11-December 7, 1955, no. 20

Diane Botnick and Nancy Grove, The Sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, 1924-1979: A Catalogue, New York, 1980, p. 62, no. 349
Louise Allison Cort and Bert Winther-Tamaki, Isamu Noguchi and Modern Japanese Ceramics: A Close Embrace of the Earth, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 46 (for a related example)

Overall in very good condition. When viewed firsthand, the stoneware presents with a slightly darker hue compared to the catalogue illustration. The ceramic color with some inherent irregularities that are common to works made with Kasama stoneware. The surface with minor dust and surface soiling accumulated throughout particularly concentrated to the floor, figurines, and recessed areas. The roof with some faint moisture stains, each measuring 1/2 and 1 1/2 inch, respectively. The outer edge of the proper left front corner with an area of superficial loss to the ceramic measuring approximately 1/2 inch wide and not visually distracting. A significant work from the period by this multi-medium artist.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Sotheby's would like to thank the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum for their assistance with the cataloguing of this lot.



1952 was an enlightening year in Noguchi’s career, one in which he embraced Japanese visual culture and his own Japanese heritage in unprecedented ways. Facing a particularly tense and discriminatory post-war climate in the United States, Noguchi often travelled to Japan where he temporarily settled with his newlywed wife, Japanese actress Yoshiko Ōtaka. Starting in 1952, Noguchi rented the home and clay studio of famed potter Rosanjin Kitaoji, located in the small seaside city of Kamakura. There, he spoke Japanese, wore traditional kimonos, and brought to life his imaginary vision of an almost vanished Japan. Rosanjin’s studio allowed him to experiment with stoneware, thus resulting in the creation of abstract clay sculptures that combined ancient Japanese techniques with a Modernist sensibility.

Home, like many of his Kasama sculptures created in Kamakura, draws inspiration from ancient Japanese sculpture, specifically “Haniwa” terracotta figures and miniature homes, whose influences are especially visible here in the organic treatment of the figurative elements. Noguchi himself wrote: “My symbolism derived from the prehistoric roofs of “Haniwa,” like the protective abode of infancy, or even equating this with birth and death, the arch of peace with the dome of destruction.” Whether Home was intended as a depiction of his very own Japanese life at Kamakura with Yoshiko is unclear—though a similar sculpture titled Buson (1952), depicting the recluse Japanese poet of the same name and featuring a standing figure under a roof, certainly points in that direction. In any event, perhaps the best description of the ceramic work that he produced during that time can be found in this letter sent to his American friend Jeanne Reynal: “[…] it’s not just work, but work as a reflection of living”.