I would like to share with you an article that I wrote about Isamu Noguchi’s childhood, which was originally intended for a children’s book. As you may know, this year would have been his 100th birth year. I chose a period in Noguchi’s formative years where he received his early art experiences that led him to become an artist.

 

Isamu Noguchi is one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century. He created many sculptures all over the world and traveled to numerous countries to find new ideas and inspirations.

 

Born in 1904 in Los Angeles to an American mother and a Japanese father, he and his mother moved to Japan when he was 2 years old. They lived in a seaside town called Chigasaki. It was in this town that his love for art began. Isamu’s father, Yonejiro, and mother, Leonie, were never married so he seldom saw his father during his 11 years in Japan. At the age of 13,  his mother sent him off to the United States to further his education. His mother wanted her son to become an artist.

 

In Japan, Isamu was a target of teasing and taunting by the local children. Isamu, afterall,  didn’t have black hair and looked very much like a foreigner. Because he was half Japanese and half American and looked so different from the other Japanese, he was called a freak. Everywhere he went, he became a victim of some sort of embarrassing moment. Because of this, Leonie briefly sent him to an international school. The result was equally troubling. He was harassed once again, this time it was because he didn’t look American enough. To prevent any more teasing, his mother eventually taught Isamu at home. His early childhood was sad and lonely.

 

When Isamu was 10 years old, Leonie decided to have a home built for them. She found a small triangular lot in between two large homes. No one wanted this land because it was small and not square. Who would build a house on this piece of land? Leonie hired Japanese carpenters to build the house. Since Isamu’s mother worked during the day as an English teacher, she asked Isamu to look over the construction and to make sure the carpenters were doing their job. Isamu gladly obliged.

 

Isamu was mesmerized by the Japanese carpenters. They had this ritual of pouring sake and salt on the grounds to bless the land and they wore very funny clothes. Instead of shoes, they wore “tabi,” a two-toed, laced-up cloth sandal. The pants were very wide around the hips but narrow and tight around the knees and ankles in order not to have any of their clothes caught while they worked. They created platforms around the house made out of skeletons of bamboo that are bound together by twine. These were used by the carpenters to stand on so that they could  work  on the higher parts of the house. The tools they used were also fascinating. They didn’t use electrical tools, and rarely used nails. When the carpenters had to join two pieces of wood, they would use a chisel and a hammer to carve out notches. Isamu spent his days, in awe, watching the house being built. He was amazed to watch the house slowly take shape. Soon he began to try to make things on his own too. His mother sensed his pleasure in being part of the house’s construction so she gave him the additional task of landscaping the house’s garden. He brought flowers and foliage from the mountains and he incorporated them into the garden. The carpenters enjoyed his dedication and were friendly to him. They even allowed him to use their tools to create things. Isamu was very focused on what he did and became so good with his hands that after the house was built his mother sent him off to be an apprentice with a traditional Japanese carpenter. There he learned how to respect and  take good care of the carpentry tools. He started his apprenticeship by learning how to sharpen the saws and chisels. By the time one season of training finished, he mastered all the techniques. The experience gave Isamu the greatest pleasure. No more teasing from the other children. It was such a rewarding experience to build something that never existed before. Creating art became his only sanctuary. His determination and focus was immense. He would spend hours perfecting his craft. This awareness in Japanese wood carpentry gave him the first dreams of becoming an artist. To be able to create something from nothing gave him so much pleasure and a sense of accomplishment.

 

As Isamu grew older and continued to work making art, he never forgot the lessons he learned as he watched his house being built. He carried his wood tools with him where ever he went. He also took good care of them. For Isamu, art was his way to express himself to other people and the world. Art has no boundaries, like a country or language or race. It was all equal. In his childhood, people would judge him even before he could have a chance to speak a word. That is why he pursued creating sculpture throughout his life until he died at the age of 84. He never had any children of his own, probably not wishing for his child to go through the same kind of loneliness he encountered.

 

Although Isamu had many challenges growing up, compared to other children, he had the great fortune to meet very exciting and inspiring people. They gravitated towards him. He looked at life from a global perspective. Many people were fascinated by him and wanted to learn from him or help him. Isamu utilized his disadvantages and turned them into his greatest strengths.

 

His art was about life in general. Not just one style or one thought. He sculpted monuments, created parks and gardens as well as furniture and light fixtures for homes,  and designed water fountains. He didn’t think of people as living in different countries, he thought of everyone living on the same planet earth. He wanted to sculpt the earth and he wanted to make art for everyone. Art was his communication tool. It was his universal language.

 

Throughout his life there was one beauty he never forgot. It was the breathtaking sight of the sun setting behind Japan’s beloved Mt. Fuji, which he saw from the second floor of the triangular house he lived in as a boy of 11. There he was free and could imagine many great things. That vision stayed with him all is life