A five-month apprenticeship in 1927 with the renowned Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi led Noguchi to his own abstract sculptural language. Kouros betrays Noguchi’s preoccupation in the mid-1940s with organic patterns and shapes rendered on a monumental scale. A great feat of imagination and engineering, it comprises eight interlocking pieces of pink Georgian marble, secured by a perfect balance in weight and two strategically placed pins. This precariousness evokes Noguchi’s uncertainty about the state of the world after World War II, which he characterized as "the encroaching void." The title refers to a type of ancient Greek sculpture showing lone standing male figures, often striding forward into space. His specific point of reference was a famed example in The Met collection (32.11.1).
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Fourteen Americans," September 10–December 8, 1946, no. 76 (lent by the artist).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting, 1754–1954," December 18, 1953–September 1954, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist (dated 1944–45).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Tribute to a Curator: Robert Beverly Hale," November 16, 1978–March 4, 1979, extended to March 18, 1979, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The Third Dimension: Sculpture of the New York School," December 6, 1984–March 3, 1985, unnumbered cat. (fig. 47; dated 1944–45).
Canberra. Australian National Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," March 1–April 27, 1986, unnumbered cat. (p. 65; dated 1944–45).
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery. "20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," May 7–July 1, 1986, unnumbered cat.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Isamu Noguchi: Master Sculptor," October 28, 2004–January 16, 2005, unnumbered cat. (p. 105; dated 1946).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021, unnumbered cat. (fig. 7).
Anaïs Nin. Diary entry. November 1945 [published in Gunther Stuhlmann, ed. "The Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1944–1947," New York, 1971, p. 103].
Thomas B. Hess. "Isamu Noguchi '46: An Art News Contemporary Contour." Art News 45 (September 1946), pp. 35–36, 50, ill.
Jo Gibbs. "Fourteen Moderns at the Modern." Art Digest 20 (September 15, 1946), p. 30, ill. p. 5.
Carlyle Burrows. "Art of the Week: New Talents At Modern Museum, and Others." New York Herald Tribune (September 15, 1946), p. 18.
Carlyle Burrows. "'Fourteen Americans' Exhibited—A Shifting Viewpoint: Small One-Man Groups Seen at Museum of Modern Art." Christian Science Monitor (October 5, 1946), p. 12.
Parker Tyler. "Fourteen Minus One." View 7 (Fall 1946), ill. p. 35.
"Speaking of Pictures...Japanese-American Sculptor Shows Off Weird New Works; Noguchi has Odd Versatility." Life 21 (November 11, 1946), pp. 12–13, ill. (color).
Jacques Schnier. Sculpture in Modern America. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1948, p. 51, pl. 128.
Howard Devree. "2 Centuries of Art in U.S. on Display." New York Times (December 18, 1953), p. L26, ill.
Robert Goldwater with René d'Harnoncourt. Modern Art in Your Life. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1953, pp. 26–27, ill.
Herrymon Maurer. "Noguchi." Fortune (September 1953), p. 119, ill.
Dorothy Grafly. "The Weathervane: Two Centuries of American Painting." American Artist 18 (April 1954), ill. p. 41, dates it 1953.
Addison Franklin Page. "Isamu Noguchi...The Evolution of a Style." Art in America 44 (Winter 1956), pp. 24, 65, ill. p. 25, dates it 1945–46.
Robert Beverly Hale. "The American Moderns." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (Summer 1957), ill. p. 21.
Katharine Kuh. "An Interview with Isamu Noguchi." Horizon 11 (March 1960), pp. 107–8, ill.
Katharine Kuh. The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists. New York, 1962, pp. 174–75, pl. 78 [reprints Ref. Kuh 1960].
"Art in America—Four Centuries of Painting and Sculpture: A Show Proposed for the New York World's Fair; Catalogue: 20th Century Sculpture." Art in America 50 (Fall 1962), p. 47, ill. p. 66, dates it 1944–45.
Albert TenEyck Gardner. American Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1965, pp. 176–77, ill., dates it 1944–45.
Edward B. Henning. "Two New Contemporary Sculptures." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54 (September 1967), pp. 221, 227 n. 3, fig. 2.
Isamu Noguchi. A Sculptor's World. New York and Evanston, Ill., 1968, pp. 28, 239, colorpl. II.
M.C. "Isamu Noguchi's Sculpture and His Artistic Philosophy." Japan Times (March 27, 1968), p. 10.
Ruth Wolfe. "Noguchi: Past, Present, Future." Art in America 56 (March–April 1968), ill. p. 32 (color).
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America. New York, 1973, p. 396, ill. p. 397, dates it 1944–45.
Barbara Rose. American Art Since 1900. Rev. and expanded ed. (1st ed., 1967). New York, 1975, pp. 260, 304, fig. 11-24, dates it 1944–45.
Wayne Andersen. American Sculpture in Process: 1930/1970. Boston, 1975, pp. 47–48, 50, 87, fig. 13.
John I. H. Baur in Jean Lipman and Helen M. Franc. Bright Stars: American Painting and Sculpture Since 1776. New York, 1976, p. 19.
Jean Lipman and Helen M. Franc. Bright Stars: American Painting and Sculpture Since 1776. New York, 1976, p. 130, ill. (color), date it 1944–45.
Rosalind E. Krauss in200 Years of American Sculpture. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1976, pp. 176–77, fig. 258, dates it 1944–45.
Sam Hunter. Isamu Noguchi. New York, 1978, pp. 79, 83–84, 326, ill. pp. 79 (detail, with the artist, 1947), 231 (color).
Nancy Grove and Diane Botnick. The Sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, 1924–1979: A Catalogue. New York, 1980, pp. 35–36, no. 204, ill. n.p., date it 1944–45.
Lowery S. Sims in "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1980–1981. New York, 1981, p. 71.
Seymour Howard. "Definitions and Values of Archaism and the Archaic Style." Leonardo 14 (Winter 1981), p. 43, fig. 2, dates it 1944–45.
Diane Apostolos Cappadona. "Stone As Centering: The Spiritual Sculptures of Isamu Noguchi." Art International 24 (March–April 1981), pp. 79, 82, ill. p. 80, dates it 1944–45 in caption.
Laurie Wilson. Louise Nevelson: Iconography and Sources. PhD diss., City University of New York. New York, 1981, pp. 200, 204, fig. 169.
Nancy E. Grove. "Isamu Noguchi: A Study of the Sculpture." PhD diss., City University of New York, 1983, pp. 57–58, 60, 179, fig. 16, dates it 1944–45.
Lisa Phillips. The Third Dimension: Sculpture of the New York School. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1984, pp. 20, 108, fig. 47 (color).
Suzanne Muchnic. "Abstract Expressionism: Humanoid Sculpture from the 3rd Dimension." Los Angeles Times (January 13, 1985), p. O81.
Theodore F. Wolff. "A Hard Look at American Avant-garde Sculptors." Christian Science Monitor (January 3, 1985), p. 30, ill.
Carter Ratcliff. "Domesticated Nightmares." Art in America 73 (May 1985), ill. p. 147.
Michael Lloyd in20th Century Masters from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Australian National Gallery. Canberra, 1986, p. 65, ill. (color).
Isamu Noguchi. The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum. New York, 1987, p. 248.
Edward Lucie-Smith. Sculpture Since 1945. London, 1987, p. 42, fig. 52, dates it 1944–45.
William Wilson. "A Mod Fan Dance at The Met." Los Angeles Times (February 8, 1987), p. 5.
Robert Pincus. "Renowned Sculptor Dies: Noguchi's Work Combined East and West." San Diego Union (December 31, 1988), p. A8, dates it 1944.
Sabine Rewald inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 234, fig. 1, dates it 1944–45.
Nancy Grove. Isamu Noguchi: Portrait Sculpture. Exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery. Washington, D. C., 1989, p. 23, fig. 28, dates it 1944–45.
Edward M. Gomez. "The Passing of a Purist." Time (January 16, 1989), ill. p. 37 (color).
Katherine Hoffman. Explorations: The Visual Arts Since 1945. New York, 1991, p. 76, fig. 1.56, dates it 1944–45.
Bruce Altshuler. Isamu Noguchi. New York, 1994, pp. 49–50, colorpl. 52.
Diane Apostolos-Cappadona and Bruce Altshuler, ed. "An Interview with Isamu Noguchi by Katharine Kuh (1962)." Isamu Noguchi: Essays and Conversations. New York, 1994, pp. 132–33, ill., date it 1944–45 [reprints Ref. Kuh 1962].
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 441, no. 45, ill. (color).
Martica Sawin. Surrealism in Exile and the Beginning of the New York School. Cambridge, Mass., 1995, p. 316, ill. p. 317, dates it 1944.
Jonathan Fineberg. Art Since 1940: Strategies of Being. New York, 1995, p. 41, fig. 2.21, dates it 1944–45.
Stephanie D'Alessandro. "Figure, 1946 by Isamu Noguchi." Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 25, no. 1 (1999), p. 14, dates it 1944.
Ana Maria Torres. Isamu Noguchi: A Study of Space. New York, 2000, p. 75.
Elizabeth Forsyth Harris. "Sculptural Theatre: Isamu Noguchi's Sets for Martha Graham." PhD diss., University of Virginia, 2000, pp. 77–78, 195, fig. 4.19, dates it 1944.
Anna C. Chave inIsamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design. Ed. Alexander von Vegesack, Katarina V. Posch, and Jochen Eisenbrand. Exh. cat., Design Museum, London. Weil am Rhein, 2001, p. 41, ill. p. 42, dates it 1944–45 in the caption.
Amy Lyford. "Noguchi, Sculptural Abstraction, and the Politics of Japanese American Internment." Art Bulletin 85 (March 2003), pp. 137–39, 146–49, 151 n. 45, fig. 1 and ill. front cover (color).
Masayo Duus. The Life of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders. Princeton, 2004, p. 191, dates it 1945–46.
Valerie J. Fletcher. Isamu Noguchi: Master Sculptor. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. London, 2004, pp. 108, 118, ill. p. 105 (color).
Lance Esplund. "Museums: Drawing Fire from Stone." New York Sun (October 29–31, 2004), p. B17.
Grace Glueck. "Noguchi's Exploration of the 3-Dimensional World." New York Times (October 29, 2004), p. E37, dates it 1946.
Evelyn Hankins in Valerie J. Fletcher. Isamu Noguchi: Master Sculptor. Exh. cat., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. London, 2004, ill. p. 218 (installation photo, Exh. New York 1946).
Jo Lauria inRuth Duckworth: Modernist Sculptor. Exh. cat., Chicago Cultural Center. Hampshire, U.K., 2005, p. 61, fig. 17 (color), dates it about 1944–45.
Georges Sebbag inMetamorphosis in Clay: Noguchi in Kamakura. Exh. cat., Fundacion ICO. Madrid, 2006, pp. 53, 243.
Kim Carpenter. "Organic Utilitarianism: The Sculptures of Isamu Noguchi." Sculpture Review 57 (Spring 2008), p. 31, ill. p. 30, dates it 1944.
Daniell Cornell inAsian/ American/ Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970. Ed. Daniell Cornell and Mark Dean Johnson. Exh. cat., Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, de Young Museum. San Francisco, 2008, p. 37, fig. 3 (color), dates it 1944–45.
N. P. Paissios inIsamu Noguchi: Between East and West. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Andros. [Turin], 2010, pp. 52–53, 59 nn. 28, 32, fig. 29, dates it 1946.
Shaina Larrivee and Alex Ross, ed. Isamu Noguchi Catalogue Raisonné (dINCR). Online resource [https://archive.noguchi.org/CR/About], 2011 (ongoing), no. 204, ill. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 420, ill. (color), dates it 1944–45.
Amy Lyford. Isamu Noguchi's Modernism: Negotiating Race, Labor, and Nation, 1930–1950. Berkeley, 2013, pp. 130–32, 142–43, 146–47, 151–52, 154, 156–57, 159, 167, 169, 171–73, 177, 180–82, 188, 242 nn. 3–4, p. 244 n. 19, p. 246 n. 42, p. 247 n. 10, figs. 60 (reproduction of Ref. Life 1946), 66 (reproduction of Ref. Hess 1946), 68–69 (installation photos, Exh. New York 1946), colorpl. 5, dates it 1944–45.
Hayden Herrera. Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi. New York, 2015, pp. 207, 223, 225–27, ill. (with the artist, Exh. New York 1946).
J. M. Bernstein. "Late Style, First Art: The Fates and Politics of Modernism." MLN 133 (April 2018), pp. 612–15, fig. 2 (color), dates it 1944–45 in the caption.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 420, ill. (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 85 (color).
Andrea Bayer inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 15, 245, fig. 7 (color).
Mary Gabriel. "Dorothy Miller." Inventing the Modern: Untold Stories of the Women Who Shaped The Museum of Modern Art. Ed. Ann Temkin and Romy Silver-Kohn. New York, 2025, p. 220, ill. (installation photo, Exh. New York 1946).
Isamu Noguchi (American, Los Angeles, California 1904–1988 New York)
ca. 1952
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