FDA-A.2560-2024
Parts
Object number
FDA-A.2560-2024
Object type
Identification
Title
Akari Light Sculpture Model 6A, with Kanji Patterns
Title Type
assigned by artist
Description
Screen printed paper and wood standing lamp sculpture
Comments
Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles; the son of Japanese poet Yone Noguchi (1875–1947) and American writer Léonie Gilmour (1873–1933). His family relocated to Japan when he was an infant. Aged 13, Noguchi was sent back to the US to enter a boarding school in Indiana. He was later apprenticed to sculptor Gutzon Borglum (1867–1941), creator of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. After moving to Paris, he entered the studio of sculptor Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957), who inspired Noguchi’s first abstract works in stone. In 1929, Noguchi met American architect Buchminster Fuller (1895–1983) in New York. He collaborated with Fuller on several design projects, including the Dymaxion car. He made his initial return trip to Japan to study pottery in 1931, before accepting the first of many public sculpture commissions, for History as Seen from Mexico in 1936 (1936; The Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, New York).
From 1947, Noguchi made designs for the Herman Miller Furniture Company. The pieces, including his three-part coffee table, have become iconic symbols of the modernist style. After a 1951 visit to the town of Gifu, Japan, Noguchi began designing delicate paper lamps, employing traditional Gifu methods. He called these works Akari, stating: ‘the Akari lamps… were partly motivated by wanting to be able to have my art in everybody’s home.’
[Source: Martin, Philippa, ‘The Kim Collection of East Asian Art’, Eton College Collections Journal, 2025, p.16]
From 1947, Noguchi made designs for the Herman Miller Furniture Company. The pieces, including his three-part coffee table, have become iconic symbols of the modernist style. After a 1951 visit to the town of Gifu, Japan, Noguchi began designing delicate paper lamps, employing traditional Gifu methods. He called these works Akari, stating: ‘the Akari lamps… were partly motivated by wanting to be able to have my art in everybody’s home.’
[Source: Martin, Philippa, ‘The Kim Collection of East Asian Art’, Eton College Collections Journal, 2025, p.16]
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 604mm
diameter (actual size): 422mm
diameter (actual size): 422mm
Materials & techniques note
Screen printed Washi paper, bamboo, wood, enameled
Production
Person
Noguchi, Isamu, 1904 - 1988 (Artist)
Date
c.1952
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Presented to Eton College by the family of Seojoon Justin Kim (PEPW, 2019-2024) to mark Eton’s inaugural East and South East Asian Heritage Month (2023) - organised by Justin and the Heritage Month Planning Committee, and the exhibition ‘The Wind from the East’ (2024)
Exhibited: ‘The Wind from the East’, Tower Gallery, Eton College, 1 to 26 February 2024 (curated by Jinjoo Josephine Lee FRSA FRAS, mother of Seojoon Justin Kim)
Exhibited: ‘The Wind from the East’, Tower Gallery, Eton College, 1 to 26 February 2024 (curated by Jinjoo Josephine Lee FRSA FRAS, mother of Seojoon Justin Kim)
