Isamu Noguchi, Coffee table
Isamu Noguchi, born in 1904 in Los Angeles, is the son of the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour. After studying at Columbia University and the Leonardo da Vinci School of Art, he created his own studio and organized his first solo exhibitions in New York.
"My father, Yone Noguchi, is Japanese and has long been known as an interpreter of the East and the West, through poetry. I am anxious to fulfill my heritage," he wrote in his proposal for the Guggenheim Fellowship he received in 1927. In this capacity, he traveled to Paris and worked in the studio of Constantin Brancusi. Following this stay, he returned to the United States with the intention of blurring the boundaries between monumental sculpture and organic furniture design.
He was greatly influenced by his apprenticeship in 1930-31 in traditional Chinese painting, as well as by the art of ceramics, which he studied under Jinmatsu Uno in Japan.
His various influences make him a universal artist whose field of expression encompasses sculpture, furniture, lighting, interior decoration and the design of squares and gardens. His sculptural style is characterized by organic and expressive forms.
This coffee table, designed in 1944, is a testament to Isamu Noguchi's belief that "everything is sculpture."
He considered his famous Coffee Table to be his finest design creation. Its organic form evokes his sculptures of the same period, abstractions in bronze and marble with round and expressive forms. Its simplicity and the balance of its design, with its heavy glass top resting on two wooden pieces placed at right angles, have made it a timeless work.
Noguchi's signature is acid-etched into the glass. The base is made of black-stained ash.
Designer: Isamu Noguchi
Publisher: Vitra
Dimensions: 128 x 93 x 40 cm
Isamu Noguchi, born in 1904 in Los Angeles, is the son of the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour. After his studies at Columbia University and the Leonardo da Vinci School of Art, he created his own studio and organized his first solo exhibitions in New York.
"My father, Yone Noguchi, is Japanese and has long been known as a performer from East to West, through poetry. I want to fulfill my heritage," he wrote in his application for the Guggenheim Fellowship, which he received in 1927. As such, he traveled to Paris and worked in Constantin Brancusi's studio. Following this stay, he returned to the United States with the intention of blurring the boundaries between monumental sculpture and organic furniture design.
He was greatly influenced by his 1930-31 apprenticeship in traditional Chinese painting, as well as the art of ceramics, which he studied under Jinmatsu Uno in Japan.
His various influences make him a universal artist whose field of expression encompasses sculpture, furniture, lighting, interior decoration and the design of squares and gardens. His sculptural style is characterized by organic and expressive forms.
This coffee table, designed in 1944, is proof of Isamu Noguchi's belief that "everything is sculpture".
He considered his famous Coffee Table as his most beautiful creation in the field of design. Its organic form evokes his sculptures of the same period, abstractions in bronze and marble with round and expressive forms. Its simplicity and the balance of its design, with its heavy glass top placed on 2 wooden pieces placed at right angles, have made it a timeless work of art.
Noguchi's signature is acid-etched into the glass. The base is in black-stained ash.
Designer: Isamu Noguchi
Publisher: Vitra
Dimensions: 128 x 93 x 40 cm