| Title | : | Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0374281165 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780374281168 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 592 |
| Publication | : | First published April 21, 2015 |
| Awards | : | Los Angeles Times Book Prize Biography (2015), Andrew Carnegie Medal Nonfiction (2016) |
In this remarkable biography of the elusive artist, Hayden Herrera observes this driving force of Noguchi's creativity as intimately tied to his deep appreciation of nature. As a boy in Japan, Noguchi would collect wild azaleas and blue mountain flowers for a little garden in front of his home. As Herrera writes, he also included a rock, "to give a feeling of weight and permanence." It was a sensual appreciation he never abandoned. When looking for stones in remote Japanese quarries for his zen-like Paris garden forty years later, he would spend hours actually listening to the stones, scrambling from one to another until he found one that "spoke to him." Constantly striving to "take the essence of nature and distill it," Noguchi moved from sculpture to furniture, and from playgrounds to sets for his friend the choreographer Martha Graham, and back again working in wood, iron, clay, steel, aluminum, and, of course, stone.
Noguchi traveled constantly, from New York to Paris to India to Japan, forever uprooting himself to reinvigorate what he called the "keen edge of originality." Wherever he went, his needy disposition and boyish charm drew women to him, yet he tended to push them away when things began to feel too settled. Only through his art-now seen as a powerful aesthetic link between the East and the West-did Noguchi ever seem to feel that he belonged.
Combining Noguchi's personal correspondence and interviews with those closest to him-from artists, patrons, assistants, and lovers-Herrera has created an authoritative biography of one of the twentieth century's most important sculptors. She locates Noguchi in his friendships with such artists as Buckminster Fuller and Arshile Gorky, and in his affairs with women including Frida Kahlo and Anna Matta Clark. With the attention to detail and scholarship that made her biography of Gorky a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Herrera has written a rich meditation on art in a globalized milieu. Listening to Stone is a moving portrait of an artist compulsively driven to reinvent himself as he searched for his own "essence of sculpture."
Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi Reviews
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"Art has to have some kind of humanly touching and memorable quality. It has to recall something which moves a person -- a recollection, a recognition of his loneliness, or tragedy, or whatever is at the root of his recollection."
For sculptor Isamu Noguchi, loneliness was a great part of creating art. One of the strongest feelings that Noguchi had was of being without a national identity. Born in the United States to an American mother and Japanese father (and having lived in Japan as a small child), he considered himself a nomad, never finding a place to call home.
Rejection by his father, a well-known Japanese poet, was also a source of his loneliness. Although surrounded by friends, mentors, and lovers, Noguchi was never really able to commit to a single relationship or find a family. Surprisingly then, perhaps, was the fact that so many people recognized his great talent, championed his work, and cared for him, beyond what could possibly be expected, given his (sometimes) challenging personality.
What he created, on the other hand, is a gift to the world. While it's likely that most people are more familiar with his commercial successes (for example, his coffee table design and his adaptation of Japanese lanterns into Modernist lighting, both of which have been endlessly copied) rather than his pure art, he was extremely successful at both -- although he never felt he received the recognition he deserved.
For those who want to see more, there is his New York studio, which was converted into a museum, and his public works of sculpture and gardens (in NY, Paris, Miami, California, Texas, and Japan, among other spots). He made sculptures using many different materials, but it was his relationship to nature, and in particular to stone that led to his most profound pieces of art.
This book, written by the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Hayden Herrera captures the complexity of the artist, good and bad, with probably more detail than the average reader might desire. Yet, this book provides an overall scope of the life and philosophy of a complex man. Said the artist, "We are a landscape of all we know." That was certainly true of Noguchi.
Many thanks to Good Reads and Farrar, Straus & Giroux for letting me read this book. -
Sometimes it’s a joy to try something different. I knew next to nothing of the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), when I picked up this recent biography by Hayden Herrera. It was a gamble of sorts, given that the book runs to nearly 600 pages, but I am glad I persevered.
Herrera covers the artist’s life story in extreme detail, drawing on archive research and interviews with those who knew him, especially Priscilla Morgan, his partner in later life. This gives a very full picture and presents the biographer with certain challenges.
The action moves backwards and forwards between different countries. There are so many love affairs I lost count (and interest), and numerous professional false starts. On five separate occasions he creates designs for different children’s playgrounds, only to have the projects (yes, all five) cancelled at the planning stage. I found the first third of the book much the slowest and enjoyed the reading more as I went on.
What really lifts this tome are the discussions of the sculpture and other works, including the set designs for Martha Graham and the Japanese-inspired gardens, such as the garden for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Herrera excels in her vivid descriptions and her crisp approach to interpretation. The pieces are mainly abstract, but she tells you where to look for a bird’s beak or a person’s arm, and these gentle hints enlarge your understanding, even from within the confines of a black and white photograph.
She also draws out certain lifelong themes in Noguchi's artistic career: the tension between his American and Japanese backgrounds; his focus on the natural world; and his notion of sculpture as the shaping of space. Had this been a monograph, we could have had an essay on each of these, but instead Herrera lets them surface naturally, sticking to a chronological approach that can feel repetitive but is also more organic, more like real life.
Review first posted at
http://asianartbrief.com -
very thorough book on noguchi's timeline and prof relationships, but not revealing enough of heart nor philosophy. pg86
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Inspired. Obsessed.
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I like Noguchi's art, especially his architecture and stone work. I found his life as half Japanese half white in Japan and later in America and his personal struggles with cultural identity and poverty to be poignant and interesting.
Yet some of it is a little depressing. He doesn't marry and has no problem following his parents footsteps in shallow and uncommitted relationships, in spite of the psychological and emotional trauma he experienced as a child living with parents who refused to marry each other. Maybe it's all he knew, but it's still selfish.
However, if you like his art, you will enjoy that narration concerning his personal artistic development as well as the history behind his important works. -
This isn't the interpretive biography I was looking for. I read about fifty pages. Though thorough and well written, it's nearly all "this happened, then that happened." Herrera does a good job of tracing lines between Noguchi's mature work and events and relationships in his early life. The theme of a rift in Noguchi's life between his Japanese and American heritages comes back again and again. But sometimes these origin stories take the form of "because this happened he became that way," and they feel facile.
I would have preferred something that delves more into Noguchi the artist and the visual and philosophical interchange between him and the many notable artists who figure into his life. Important artistic developments come up early on, but they're passed over with little comment. The narrative of Noguchi's personal life takes precedence.
This is a good book for learning the details of Noguchi's life. Herrera tracks them all down and reports them, and it's a brisk, enjoyable read. But look elsewhere for deeper insight. -
saw this book in the NYTimes weekly book review and reserved it immediately at the library.. just notified it is ready and off to pick it up! Excited to be able to crack and read it! His museum/workshop in Queens was a check-off on my bucket list when we were in Brooklyn/Manhattan a few years ago! I bought his biography there and am looking forward to a new version of the story, in this latest.
To be continued. Had to return to the library, as it was wait listed. Resume in ~2 months! So far, lots of information in it that I did not get from the bio I read from his studio in Queens. Each book fills in different parts of his life and work. -
Usually it is a novel that one cannot put down. But today it was this magical biography of Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi lived a long and varied life. Born in the US, yet interned in the American WWII camps as an established artist, he was dedicated to art and peace. He used space and line and crossed the bridge between East and West.
He evolved always. This book describes his life, times and influences. It is an excellent introduction and summary of Noguchi's life and works.
5 stars - far above average! -
Information overload: this book was more than I ever wanted to know about Nuguchi. I kept slogging away at this detailed account of his life and difficult personality because I love my book club.
Noguchi himself was quite poetic and clear when he talked about his sculpture. Unfortunately, much of this text was dry and repetitive. That said, I really like his art (didn’t know much of it before the book).
I loved the many photos! The text would have been meaningless to me without them. He lived to age 84 and had a lot to show for so many years of genius. -
This is a somewhat long biography but feels comprehensive in it coverage and placement of Ismau Noguchi as a 20th century artist, historical figure, and uniquely American phenomenon. I enjoyed learning of his intersections with important people and events. I have a better appreciation of his work and want to see and learn more.
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Fairly well-written, but it's obvious that the author adores the work of Noguchi and therefore fawns over his creations, often with bizarrely over-reaching interpretations of his work, as well as excusing the (few) shitty things the guy did in his personal life.
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Hayden Herrera's biography "Frida" is one of my favorite books. I was excited to see she had written a biography of one of Frida's lovers, the great Japanese American sculptor, Isamu Noguchi. While "Listening to Stone" is a very inclusive tome regarding the prolific art works of Noguchi, I didn't connect with this artist's life as well as I did with Frida's. It might be because Noguchi was a very private man who was prone to seclusion and depression; whereas, Frida lived her life out loud. However, Ms. Herrera is such an accomplished writer, I expected to be more pulled in to the dynamics of Noguchi's life, which included his many incarnations in Japan and in The United States. In fact, at the end of this book, I didn't feel like I really knew this man at all. With "Frida," I didn't want the book to end; and, I have read that book three times. If you are a 20th century art enthusiast, you will certainly enjoy how Noguchi's work influenced the times. I didn't even realize I had a Noguchi lamp until I read this book. I'm even planning a trip to see some of his gardens in Southern California. Overall, I can say the research is extensive, but the emotional connection for Noguchi, the man, was lacking for me.
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If you don't know the work of sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi, google him now! His work is inspiring. This well-written biography made me have a better understanding of his art. The son of an American mother and a Japanese father, he never felt comfortable in either culture...yet travelled back and forth for inspiration (and work!). A natural talent, he was lucky enough to study with Brancusi. While Noguchi is primarily known for his stone sculptures, his work with Martha Graham on the sets for her dances, furniture, lighting, landscape and more is unique.
A difficult man (as many artists are), this biography shows his development as an artist and as a man of his time. It is fast reading, well illustrated, and fun. -
Isamu Noguchi was a notable modern artist who was the son of a noted Japanese poet and an American woman. This biracial background was a lifelong struggle with identity; not being truly Japanese or Caucasian. He befriended many prominent artist of the day such as Frieda Khalo and helped design Martha Graham's stage productions. He created large modern sculptures and designed many landscape and sculptural gardens. He had many relationships with fascinating and beautiful women but never had children. This is a very straightforward story of his life and art.
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very thorough, tons of details and matter-of-fact. I felt like I got the gist of things early on and found myself skimming just to be done by the end. But, I am not super excited about biographies in general, so take that with a grain of salt.
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A well-written thorough biography of Noguchi.
Hayden Herrera's writing has had an almost hypnotic effect - which might be the core reason I consumed this book, which could have done with halft the page count, in no time. -
Read this book for a book group at a local Art Museum. I would have probably never read this book on my own volition but actually I am glad that I read it. This book gives real insight in Isamu Noguchi, his life, his art and his way of approaching the world. I have a new appreciation for art which before reading this I would have looked at and said "That is a bunch of rocks, that have been randomly placed on the ground". Now though I can understand that there is a reason for the placement. I think the other thing that impressed me is that Isamu constantly changed his art over his life, he was never one to have second thoughts about something, he would just move on. His personal life was also very interesting and underscores as with most artists they produce great art for people to admire and study but they don't make the best companions on an emotional level!
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This artist produced a both a variety of art works and "large" quantities of beautiful art including gardens! He lived a very interesting life too- from the beginning of his life to the end. A very enjoyable read that kept my interest through the last page.
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Engaging. I'm always intrigued with 'that' pull between east and west.
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I read this for work (I'm the new cataloging assistant at his museum) but he had a really fascinating life and approach to art so it was a lovely obligation.
