Endless Coupling
Artist
Isamu Noguchi
(American, 1904 - 1988)
Date1988
MediumRed Swedish granite
DimensionsOverall: 94 1/2 × 23 3/4 × 23 3/4 inches, 1415.01 lb. (240.03 × 60.33 × 60.33 cm, 641.84 kg)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object numberF99-33/71
On View
On viewGallery Location
- L12
Collections
Exhibition HistoryDear Heartfelt Friend, Isamu Noguchi, Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum, Takamatsu,
Japan, November 23, 1992-March 14, 1999, no. 31.
Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Water, Pace Wildenstein, New York, May 1-June 26, 1998, unnumbered.
Isamu Noguchi: New Acquisitions from the Hall Family Foundation Collection at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 20-June 13, 1999, no cat.
Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Water, Pace Wildenstein, New York, May 1-June 26, 1998, unnumbered.
Isamu Noguchi: New Acquisitions from the Hall Family Foundation Collection at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 20-June 13, 1999, no cat.
This two-part carving consists of interlocking bone-like units that seem as though they could repeat indefinitely. Noguchi characterized Endless Coupling as one element linked to another to make a sculpture.
This work is a reprise of Noguchi's 1957 cast-iron sculpture of the same name. According to the artist, railroad couplings inspired that first version. Additionally, the earlier Endless Coupling is a tribute to Noguchi's mentor, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, who died in 1957. Noguchi's use of repeating elements in Endless Coupling pays homage to Brancusi's famous 97-foot Endless Column (1938).
Like Brancusi's sculpture, Endless Coupling is an axis mundi (world axis), a columnar shape appearing in many cultures, which symbolically links heaven to earth and humankind to the heavens.
This work is a reprise of Noguchi's 1957 cast-iron sculpture of the same name. According to the artist, railroad couplings inspired that first version. Additionally, the earlier Endless Coupling is a tribute to Noguchi's mentor, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, who died in 1957. Noguchi's use of repeating elements in Endless Coupling pays homage to Brancusi's famous 97-foot Endless Column (1938).
Like Brancusi's sculpture, Endless Coupling is an axis mundi (world axis), a columnar shape appearing in many cultures, which symbolically links heaven to earth and humankind to the heavens.
Isamu
Noguchi Foundation, Inc., Long Island City, NY, 1988;
With Pace Wildenstein, New York, by 1998;
Purchased from Pace Wildenstein by the Hall Family Foundation Collection, Kansas City, MO, 1998-1999;
Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1999.
With Pace Wildenstein, New York, by 1998;
Purchased from Pace Wildenstein by the Hall Family Foundation Collection, Kansas City, MO, 1998-1999;
Their gift to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1999.
Dear Heartfelt Friend, Isamu Noguchi,
exh. cat. (Marugame: Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art,
1994), (repro.).
Hilton Kramer, “The Beauty and Wisdom of Noguchi’s Late Work,” The New York Observer (June 1,
“Up Now,” ARTnews (June 1998).
PaceWildenstein, Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Water, exh. cat. (New York: Pace Wildenstein, 1998), (repro.)a.
Brian McTavish, “Prime Picks,” The Kansas City Star (April 22, 1999), 6.
Brian McTavish, “This Week’s Highlights,” The Kansas City Star (April 23, 1999). 19, (repro.).
Heather Lustfeldt, “Empowering the Spectator: A Style Spanning Idioms and Ages,” Review (June 1999).
“Exhibits,” AAM Newsletter (May-June 1999), 10, (repro.).
Copyright© The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information,
is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete.
Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a
particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum.
If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image,
please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.
