An exhibition focusing on the friendship between the two artists, sculptor Isamu Noguchi and painter Saburo Hasegawa, titled "Isamu Noguchi and Hasegawa Saburo: What Changes and What Remains Unchanging," will be held at the Yokohama Museum of Art from January 12 to March 24, 2019. Isamu Noguchi, Calligraphy, 1957, Collection of the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/ARS-JASPAR Photo: Kevin Noble
©The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/ARS-JASPAR Photo: Kevin Noble
Isamu Noguchi, a sculptor of mixed Japanese and American descent, sought to re-root art in people's lives from a global perspective that transcended East and West. Hasegawa Saburo, a painter who led prewar Japanese abstract art, was also a theorist who was well-versed in both the trends of modern Western art and ancient Japanese art and culture, and who found common ground between the two in abstract art. Isamu Noguchi and Saburo Hasegawa met in Tokyo in May 1950, toward the end of the Allied occupation. Shared in their interest in the relationship between the "old East and the new West," the two quickly hit it off and traveled to Kyoto, Osaka, Nara, and Ise in search of the essence of Japanese beauty.

This exhibition focuses on the friendship between these two artists, exploring what they saw, thought, and aimed for through approximately 50 works by Noguchi and 70 by Hasegawa, focusing on their shared journey in the 1950s. Noguchi's ceramic, metal, and stone works, along with Hasegawa's ink and ink-printed paintings, offer a glimpse into their vision of paving the way for postwar Japanese art. ©The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/ARS-JASPAR Photo: Kevin Noble
In addition to bringing together Hasegawa's representative ink, woodblock, and rubbing works from the collections of Japan's national and public art museums, the exhibition also features a number of works being shown in Japan for the first time, including Garden Elements (1958), a representative stone work by Noguchi that was created in Japan and exhibited in the United States but remained hidden for a long time, as well as unknown photograms and ink paintings by Hasegawa created after he moved to the United States. Through approximately 120 works, including paintings, sculptures, prints, photographs, and ink drawings, the exhibition traces the friendship and creative journey of Noguchi and Hasegawa. In advance of the exhibition, "Garden Elements" (1958) has been on display in the Yokohama Museum of Art's Grand Gallery since late November 2018.

Hasegawa Saburo, "Untitled," 1954, Thea and Mark Watts Collection
Photo: Kevin Noble
The exhibition is also a joint project between the Isamu Noguchi Foundation & Garden Museum in New York and the Yokohama Museum of Art. After the Yokohama exhibition, most of the works on display will travel to the Noguchi Museum in New York and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. However, the Yokohama Museum of Art will uniquely present Hasegawa Saburo's abstract works, including "Butterfly Trails" (1937), which represents his pioneering achievement as an abstract artist in Japan, as well as photographs. The exhibition will also feature Noguchi's recently exhibited plaster model, "Memorial for the Dead of Hiroshima" (1951-52), and other works by Noguchi from the museum's collection. During the exhibition, various related events will be held, including a "Gallery Talk by a Curator," a workshop titled "In Search of the Intersection of Japanese Beauty and Modernity...Approaching the Essence of Noguchi and Hasegawa through Exhibition Viewing and Artwork," in which visitors can try their hand at creating a work using Hasegawa's rubbing technique, and a "Highlights of the Exhibition!" program where Yokohama Museum of Art volunteers will provide a concise explanation of the exhibition's highlights. In addition, the Yokohama Museum of Art will hold an opening relay talk, a commemorative lecture, and other related events. Two catalogs will also be produced in conjunction with the exhibition. For more information, please visit the exhibition website.