Fountain
Artist
Isamu Noguchi
(American, 1904 - 1988)
Date1987
MediumBasalt
DimensionsA: 43 1/4 × 51 × 38 inches (109.86 × 129.54 × 96.52 cm)
B: 40 1/2 × 46 × 36 inches (102.87 × 116.84 × 91.44 cm)
B: 40 1/2 × 46 × 36 inches (102.87 × 116.84 × 91.44 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object numberF99-33/72 A,B
On View
On viewGallery Location
- L12
Collections
Exhibition HistoryIsamu 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.
Fountain is composed of two, asymmetrically sculpted basalt stones similar in size but differing in subtle configurations of form. The top surface of one stone is concave, while that of the other is convex. Water flows gently over the tops and sides of Fountain, reflecting light, deepening the stones' color and creating a meditative sound as it reaches the bed of river rocks below.
This sculpture was inspired by tsukubai, small, stone water basins originating centuries ago and found at Japanese temples, shrines and gardens. Tsukubai were used by worshipers to ritually wash their hands before entering a sacred site. Noguchi's Fountain poetically and artistically recalls the humble simplicity of tsukubai.
This sculpture was inspired by tsukubai, small, stone water basins originating centuries ago and found at Japanese temples, shrines and gardens. Tsukubai were used by worshipers to ritually wash their hands before entering a sacred site. Noguchi's Fountain poetically and artistically recalls the humble simplicity of tsukubai.
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.
Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Water, exh. cat. (New York: Pace Wildenstein, 1998),
(repro.).
Heather Lustfeldt, “Empowering the Spectator: A Style Spanning Idioms and Ages,” Review (June 1999), (repro.).
Heather Lustfeldt, “Empowering the Spectator: A Style Spanning Idioms and Ages,” Review (June 1999), (repro.).
Copyright© The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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