Isamu Noguchi’s Models: Of Measurement, of Place, of Situation

1.5 units

"It's extremely interesting to me, this whole business of measurement, of place, of situation... You can say that architecture is sculpture as an experience to be completely experienced, not just looking at it...You're encased in it." ( Isamu Noguchi, "Towards a Reintegration of the Arts," College Art Journal 7[Autumn 1949]:59.) In 1946, architect Harris Armstrong commissioned the Japanese American sculptor Isamu Noguchi to design a sculptural lobby ceiling in the American Stove Company headquarters building in St. Louis. Noguchi's ceiling was one of three built lunar landscapes inspired by his incarceration at the Poston Internment Center, which he voluntarily entered in 1942. Noguchi created dozens of plaster models of lunar landscapes; however, only three were built: a ceiling in the Time and Life Building in New York, the interior wall of the SS Argentina Ocean Liner, and the American Stove Company ceiling in St. Louis. The American Stove ceiling, though only recently uncovered in 2016, is the only lunar landscape still in existence today. The earlier models, often misunderstood as sculptures, were proposals for spaces meant to be inhabited. Noguchi identified himself primarily as a sculptor and had no architectural training; however, he commanded an extraordinary understanding of space. He designed spaces at various scales, from the body to urban design proposals to outer space, as well as a range of functions – furniture, theater sets, memorials, and monuments. The course will revisit his work, and, through models and photography, reimagine them as inhabitable spaces. Students will individually analyze selected models of Noguchi's realized and unbuilt work in tandem with a discussion of texts by Noguchi and others that explore his life and career. Coursework will include experimental visualization techniques, archival research and writing, physical model building, and photography. The class will include a visit to the U-Haul facility (formerly the American Stove Headquarters) to view Noguchi’s ceiling, as well as the Wash U archives and SLAM to review archival models and drawings of the space.