Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese American design and sculpture artist who worked steadily for six decades. Some of his work is has been mass produced and can be seen in design stores like Room&Board but he also did stage design work for Martha Graham productions and other sculpture works.
The Noguchi Museum was opened in 1985 by the artist to display his work. He was very much opposed in his life to being displayed in traditional museums like MOMA where he work might have been shown. In order to get around his quarrels with these institutions he decided to create his own to his standards – he could thus display his work in any way he chose. The museum is the first to be opened purely for the purpose of displaying a single artist’s work.
The museum is currently located in Long Island City, Queens and housed in 13 galleries in a converted factory building and included a beautiful garden with sculptures within it.
This museum is unusual in a city with so much great art but very little focus on this intersection between art and design. Noguchi was a singular artist in this sense and is appreciated as such. I would highly recommend that anyone who comes to New York City see this museum. It is well worth the trek out to Queens (it’s not really a trek – Long Island City is the first stop over the bridge, but we are Manhattanites, afterall, and many people are too lethargic to get to all the exciting places outside of Manhattan).
Day at the Museum 