The Noguchi Museum: A Portrait

Description

The celebrated New York museum captured by two of today's most respected photographers, Tina Barney and Stephen Shore. The Noguchi Museum provides a unique perspective on the artwork of Isamu Noguchi and its setting in the Noguchi Museum through the eyes of renowned photographers Stephen Shore and Tina Barney. Noguchi, a modernist sculptor and designer, founded and designed the museum for the specific purpose of exhibiting his works. The 1920s-era industrial space in Long Island City, Queens, thus became the first and only museum in the US to be designed by a living artist for the artist's own work. Shore has photographed individual works on view at the museum, documenting them in new and surprising ways; and Barney has photographed visitors at the museum and its events, capturing something of the spatial experience of the museum. Together with an essay reflecting on Noguchi and his influence, these new photographs comprise a beautiful object that pays tribute to the museum and artwork while highlighting the skill and eye of these two photographers. A section at the end of the book features more traditional plate images of iconic Noguchi works, to give context to Shore's and Barney's photographs. This is the only book that focuses on the unique dynamic between the museum's artworks, architecture, and visitors and the museum celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2015, coinciding with publication. The book includes a foreword by the museum director, Jenny Dixon, and a selection of archival images documenting the transformation of the museum-many published here for the first time.