Iron Wash (also titled by the artist Okame)
Maker
Isamu Noguchi
(American, lived in France, Japan, and U.S.A., 1904 - 1988)
Date1956
MediumCast iron
DimensionsOverall: 9 7/8 × 10 × 3 3/4 in. (25.1 × 25.4 × 9.5 cm)
Credit LineThe Joel Starrels, Jr. Memorial Collection
Copyright© The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Collections
Object number1974.183
Status
On viewIn 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.
Smart Publications:
The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art
Auguste Rodin
circa 1880 (model)
Antonio Gentili (also called Antonio Gentili da Faenza)
circa 1550, with 17th - century and later? reworkings
