Work (Mask)

1952

Not on view

In 1952, Noguchi was given access to Kitaōji Rosanjin’s kilns in Kamakura to experiment with ceramics and also visited Inbe, an area famous for Bizen ware, to study wood-firing methods. While working in the studio of Kaneshige Tōyō, the first Living National Treasure of Bizen ceramics, he created a plaster mold of an abstract “mask.” Most likely a self-portrait, Work (Mask) depicts a figure with a concentrated expression clenching a cigarette stub in its teeth. Constantin Brancusi’s sculptures provided Noguchi with a modernist context, but he found inspiration in Kofun-period Haniwa figures, ancient funerary objects that were hand-built and unglazed. His 1952 solo exhibition in Kamakura of groundbreaking ceramic sculptures had a powerful impact on progressive younger potters, such as the Sōdeisha members.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Title: Work (Mask)
Artist: Isamu Noguchi 野口勇 (American, Los Angeles, California 1904–1988 New York)
Period: Shōwa period (1926–89)
Date: 1952
Culture: Japan, Imbe
Medium: Unglazed Bizen stoneware
Dimensions: H. 7 1/2 in. (19 cm): W. 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm); D. 2 3/8 in. (6 cm)
Classification: Ceramics
Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2021
Object Number: 2021.401
Rights and Reproduction: ©The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum / Artists Rights Society
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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