Listening to Stone (paperback) - Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi

Listening to Stone

by Hayden Herrera

A master of what he called “the sculpturing of space,” Isamu Noguchi was an essential figure for modern public art. Noguchi, born to an American mother and a Japanese father, never felt at home anywhere and spent his life creating identities through his sculptures, monuments, and gardens. He constantly travelled, combining aesthetic values from New York to rural Japanese islands, from Paris to Bangladesh. Massive interlocking wood sculptures, Zen-like granite gardens, and stone slides are now recognized as a vital creative link between East and West.

Hayden Herrera creates another compulsively readable history of one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists, based on Noguchi’s letters and interviews with artists, supporters, aides, and lovers. Noguchi was elusive, forever uprooting himself to reinvigorate what he called the “keen edge of originality.” On the other hand, Herrera finds this man in his friendships with artists such as Buckminster Fuller and Arshile Gorky, as well as his relationships with women like Frida Kahlo. Herrera exhibits his fun side and deep commitment to his job, from establishing the Noguchi Museum in Queens to designing sets for Martha Graham.

Listening to Stone is a fascinating depiction of an artist who was obsessively compelled to reinvent himself as he searched for his own “essence of sculpture” in an interconnected world.

Shop Now

You may also be interested in

Black Landscapes Matter (paperback) – Encyclopedia of Design
by Walter Hood (Author), Grace Mitchell Tada (Author) “Do black landscapes matter?” is an issue that goes to the heart of American history. The nation’s terrain contains the wreckage of different origins, from slavery’s plantations to today’s divided cities, from freedman settlements to northern migrations for freedom.

Designed By Architects In The 1980’s – Encyclopedia of Design
by Rizzoli Shows examples of teapots, tables, hardware, chairs, radios, dressers, sofas, jewellery, tableware, lamps, rugs, and beds. by Ellen Lupton (Editor), J. Abbott Miller (Editor) The Bauhaus, the illustrious school in Dessau, Germany, revolutionised architecture and design worldwide.