Iron Wash (also titled by the artist Okame)

In her insightful book on Isamu Noguchi, Dore Ashton observes, “Japan was to be an unsettling but significant experience” in his life. Born in California, Noguchi went to Japan in 1931, but by 1932, frustrated, he returned to New York City. Then in 1956, the year this sculpture was cast, he returned to Japan a second time. He writes in his journal from that year, “My solace has always been sculpture…as an admirer of the old iron pots to be found in Japan, I had long hoped to tap the casting skill that must be there somewhere.” Okame was a direct result of Noguchi’s penetrating search to access his cultural heritage.