Discover the Artistic Oasis of the Noguchi Museum Garden in New York

You are in the heart of the garden of the Noguchi Museum, in New York. A cultural space that is more of a planet than a museum, as an article in “M Le magazine du Monde” points out. Indeed, we land there after a trip to a strange area of ​​Queens, opposite Manhattan, where one might think that art is impossible to find there given the industrial atmosphere of the district. The garden and the interior galleries contrast strongly with the external image of the district.

This place was founded and designed by Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), an internationally renowned Japanese-American artist, to exhibit his works. It is the first and only museum in the country to have been founded by an artist during his lifetime and reserved for his work. It was in May 1974 that Noguchi bought a former photogravure factory – a two-storey, 2,200 m² – and began moving much of his work from his studio in the 10^e Street where, coming from Manhattan, he had settled in 1961. In 1980, when he decided to create a museum, Noguchi also bought the neighboring gas station, which he razed the following year. In its place, he designed and built a concrete block building that now serves as both an entrance pavilion and an indoor-outdoor gallery for his basalt totemic works. This concrete pavilion, the former photogravure factory and the garden form the whole of the museum, which opened in 1985.

A garden made up of his sculptural works

Despite the dilapidated state of the open courtyard of the red brick building, Isamu Noguchi saw great potential for transformation: having already designed exterior sets, he had the idea of ​​transforming this space into a garden composed of his works. sculptures, through which visitors would enter the museum. This transformation also involved an abundant supply of trees and plants. The artist wanted to give life to an open-air museum, in which the sculptures give the strange impression that they formed naturally in space, that they are part of the landscape. Moreover, the artist wanted the style of his sculptures to reflect his philosophy: art speaks of nature and vice versa.

In this garden which makes the heart of the museum beat, he notably placed two granite stones called Tsukubai (ablution basins), which echo his sculpture The Well (1982), and next to it, a pebble polished by the Uji River in Japan, as the article in “M Le magazine du Monde” tells us.

Isamu Noguchi also appreciated the exposed steel and wooden beams found in the interior spaces of the former photogravure factory and incorporated them into his design of the museum’s galleries. It also retained the original metal ceiling, with its patina in the room, which is now the museum shop and cafe.

You have 7.21% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.