Join us for a Talk from the Senior Curator at the Noguchi Museum as he discusses the work of Isamu Noguchi:Archaic/Modern now on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.  For those of you new to Noguchi, this was an artist & inventor whose sculptural work from his studio in Queens & in Japan began to influence contemporary art & industrial design in a subtle but thorough way.  We will gather at NOPA following the lecture for dinner.  Please meet no later than 5:15PM to secure your ticket & to be seated with our CCW group. While awaiting logistics & start of the lecture, we will get to know each other. The organizer, as a native of DC, notes that this is a method of taking advantage of all our city has to offer, to learn something new, to adjust your perspective & even tie into works on campus in Ithaca without additional entry fees.  In this case, the dry Japanese garden permanent installation at the lower corner of the Addition to the Herbert F Johnson Museum on our own Hill is worth a visit when next you find yourself in Ithaca.  Currently, the Japan American Exhibition about the Influences of Japanese Culture on American & visa versa during the cultural exchanges particularly noted during World Fair Expositions. If you are able to walk through the Noguchi exhibition prior to the Talk on your own, the conversations we will have & benefit of the lecture will increase. 

For further information on Noguchi

http://www.noguchi.org/museum

http://www.hermanmiller.com/designers/noguchi.html

Except from the Exhibition description written by the SAAM:

"Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was among the most innovative American sculptors of the twentieth century, creating works that were far ahead of his time. His design for Sculpture to Be Seen from Mars (1947) anticipates the space age by several decades. Yet Noguchi frequently found inspiration in ancient art and architecture, from Egyptian pyramids, to Buddhist temples and Zen gardens, to American Indian burial mounds. The exhibition Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern explores how the ancient world shaped this artist’s innovative vision for the future.

Isamu Noguchi, Archaic/Modern brings together seventy-four works, nearly all on loan from The Noguchi Museum, made over six decades. The artworks reflect Noguchi’s striving for timelessness through the abstraction of things, places and ideas. Featured works—including several monolithic basalt sculptures, fountains, designs for stage sets and playgrounds and floating Akari light sculptures—are organized in themes of particular interest to Noguchi: landscape, invention, the atomic age, outer space, and social spaces. Noguchi saw himself as equal parts artist and inventor and the exhibition devotes special attention to his patented designs, such as Radio Nurse—the first baby monitor, and includes his designs for stage sets, playgrounds, and utilitarian articles, many of which are still being produced today.

Noguchi was born in the United States to an American mother and Japanese father, and spent his childhood in Japan and teenage years in the American Midwest. He had a complex perspective on the events of World War II and drew on his unique global perspective to create artworks that confront both the positive and negative consequences of progress—from the devastating effect of the atomic bomb to the potential of atomic energy and promise of the space age, both of which are addressed in this thematically organized exhibition. 

Dakin Hart, senior curator at The Noguchi Museum, and Karen Lemmey, sculpture curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, organized the exhibition. The Smithsonian American Art Museum is the sole venue for this exhibition, which is expanded from an earlier installation at The Noguchi Museum."

To register or for questions about this event, please contact Katherine Stifel, Arts ’87 at kgs6@cornell.edu.

Where:

SAAM Smithsonian Museum of American Art. 1st Flr West 8th St & F NW

 If you enter the F St NW entry proceed to the main desk & across the Kogod  Courtyard to the other side.  The McEvoy Auditorium is where the lecture will be held. 

Tickets are released the day of the talk shortly before the talk so please be prompt.  

When:

5:15PM Art Talk Meet just outside the McEvoy Auditorium at the Smithsonian American Art Museum

7:45PM Dinner Post Talk at NOPA. 800 F St NW, WDC Reservations will be adjusted in number on Wed AM so please be sure you commit to this portion of our outing so that those who wish to participate in this may do so. Dinner is on a Dutch treat/pay Your Own Basis.

Park in a nearby garage or take Metro to Gallery Place/Verizon Center stop on the Red line & exit towards the Verizon Center.