Isamu Noguchi : MU
by Joe May
Isamu Noguchi created “Mu” in 1952 upon his return to Japan after a twenty-year absence. Under contract with Keio University, Noguchi was invited to design a faculty room with an accompanying garden in coordination with Yoshiro Taniguchi, a popular architect at the time. Noguchi under direction of the President of Keio University created Shin Banrisha, a building and garden “where all opinions are welcome.”
“Mu” was one of two standing statues in this garden (it has only recently been dismantled and temporarily stored away). This granite, freestanding sculpture maintained a real presence in the garden. Looming just around ten feet tall, this sculpture had the appearance of a thick tree trunk with a twisted U shape on top. Position facing west on a small cliff, Noguchi intended for the semi-circular top to capture the setting sun. With it’s smooth, matte finish, “MU” stood out distinctly from the surrounding trees and landscape. In what may be an unintentional irony, “MU,” meaning “nothingness,” actually makes a chunky and heavy impression on the viewer.
Noguchi, apart from his growing fame, was invited for this commission as a way of commemorating the life of his father who had taught at Keio for forty years. While Noguchi’s relationship to his father had been strained at best, he writes later, “I became preoccupied with this as my own act of reconciliation to my father and to the people.” ‘Nothingness’ is a traditional value in Zen philosophy but for Noguchi, it encapsulated the post WWII times and the emptiness that he, as a nationless and fatherless son, realized.
Mu was originally located in Shin Banrisha Garden at Keio University, Tokyo. As of Sept 2003, this garden and sculpture were dismatled for campus reconstruction.
Mu and Nogachi in context:
On the international scene of modern artists, few have been as successful and well know as Isamu Noguchi. Achieving renown in the theatre and performance arts, creator of many, many commemorative sculpted portraits, admired for his persistent drive and determination, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and creator of internationally famous public monuments, Noguchi has been revered as one of the twentieth century’s leading artists.
Born in California of a Japanese father and American mother in 1904, Noguchi was abandoned before birth when his father returned to Japan. When he was two, his American mother pursued her husband/lover (it was never known if they were ever formally married) in Japan but was unsuccessful. Isamu was then raised in Japan through his early years but moved back to America during his adolescent years and studied in Paris in his twenties. While in Paris, he was under the instruction of Constantine Brancusi, who would become one of the world’s greatest Post-Moderninst sculptors. Brancusi’s ideologies rubbed off heavily on the impressionable Noguchi and would reemerge when Noguchi returned to Tokyo in 1950.
Through fellowships and other means, Isamu traveled around the world much of his early life. In 1949, he traveled to France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Greece, Egypt and India as preparation for writing a book on leisure. As much as this may sound like a pleasure cruise of the world, Noguchi’s leisure studies were very much interrelated with his Zen Buddhist beliefs. This trip allowed Noguchi to effectually ‘find himself’ and provided much of the inspiration that would fuel his work in the years to come. Such a broad experience of the world and it’s arts truly manifested itself in the spontiniety and variety of ideas which Noguchi employed; even when using this knowledge across multiple mediums.
Upon returing to Japan in 1950, after a twenty year absence, Noguchi was not so much greeted as a foreigner but more as a artistic icon. Japanese artists in the immediate wake of WWII looked to the already famous Noguchi as an inspirational leader. His advice to them was not to revert to old methods, or to look at Europe or America, or look only to their past but rather to look to themselves--as individuals, a very Post-Modern approach. He announced, “to be modern does not mean to copy us but to be yourselves, to look to your own roots.” For a Japan already thinking positively toward “a new art and culture,” this was perfect direction. As for his own work, he quickly was invited to exhibit in a show. On short notice he created 13 clay figurative works with influence in the haniwa soldiers of ancient Japan. He sought to capture some of the wabi (poverty-like/spirit of simplicity) aesthetic of Rikyu, the famous ceramicist. Among these 13 (which he diplayed in an exhibit at a shopping mall), he threw in some plaster cast ‘sketches,’ among which was a preliminary “Mu.”
Soon after, Noguchi was approached to do a cooperative work in commemoration of his father’s 40 year career at Keio University. Failed attempts of reconciliation with a father who did not recognize him as a son left Noguchi on uncertain terms with this project. He needed money and a job so he took the commission to construct the Shin Banrisha, a faculty building and adjacent garden. Upon accepting the job, he noted publically that, “this is not a memorial that exalts a hero, nor is it the object of someone’s reminiscence.” However, later on, he would would write that he “became preoccupied with this as my(his) own act of reconcilliation to my(his) father and to the people.” Mu, placed in this garden towards the setting sun, symbolizing “Nothingness,” surely encompassed many of his conflicting thoughts and emotions concerning his father.
After this major public opening at Keio, Noguchi moved more from the dance/theater productions he was working on in the ‘40’s towards large scale public works. The newly formed United Nations, centered in Paris, was looking for a sculptor/architect to construct a massive garden as a landmark of the building. Noguchi was selected to construct this. Today, the UNESCO Gardens are one of the most famous modern-style Japanese gardens in the world. The Chase Manahattan Corp. also commissioned Noguchi to create a sculpture (Red Cube) for their office in downtown Manahattan.
Noguchi continued to shell out work prolifically until his untimely death in 1988. He is most remembered for his spontineity of ideas, exceptional drive and work ethic, and desire to navigate a life caught between two nationalities.
Bibiliography
“Noguchi: East and West.” Ashton, Dore.
Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. New York
“Noguchi’s Imaginary Landscapes.” Friedman, Martin.
Walker Art Center, 1978. Minneapolis
“Isamu Noguchi: A Sculptor’s World.” Noguchi, Isamu.
Harper and Row, Publishers, 1968. New York, Evanston
