Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988)

In 1952 Isamu Noguchi and his bride, Yoshiko (Shirley) Yamaguchi were invited to live in a farmhouse in Kamarkura, Japan owned by the calligrapher and ceramicist Kitaoji Rosanjin (1883–1959). With access to Rosanjin’s kilns Noguchi began a series of ceramic sculptures and objects. Face Dish (Plate with Face Center) was exhibited in a selection of the artist’s work produced in Asia, including ceramics and scroll drawings, at the Arts Club of Chicago in 1955. Noguchi created ceramics during three brief but intense periods during his career: five months in Kyoto in 1931; one week in Seto in 1950; and several months in Kita Kamakura and briefly in Bizen in 1952. In 1952 he wrote “I have only made pottery in Japan, never elsewhere. I think the earth here and the sentiment are suited to pottery" (I. Noguchi quoted in R. Yellin, Pottery to get on a plane for, Japan Times, 2003).