Noguchi at the Barbican: The 2021–22 Retrospective

Ina

Jan 12, 2022

3 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Noguchi at the Barbican was the Barbican Art Gallery's retrospective of Isamu Noguchi, from 30 September 2021 to 23 January 2022. The Barbican extended it by two weeks from its first closing date of 9 January. This page is a record of the show.

A gallery with paper lanterns hanging above a round white platform, dark wood sculptures standing on it and visitors beyond

Noguchi at the Barbican: What Was in the Show?

The show had more than 150 works and was billed as the first European touring retrospective of Noguchi in about 20 years. The lead curator at the Barbican was Florence Ostende.

The Barbican organised it jointly with Museum Ludwig in Cologne and Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, in partnership with LaM in Lille. The Noguchi Museum in New York collaborated and gave access to its archive.

A gallery wall with the section title I Became a Sculptor in large grey letters beside a small framed work

What Were the Sections of the Show?

The Barbican's guide divided the show into twelve sections. They began with I Became a Sculptor and Sculpting Space, and ended with Civic Sculpture and Citizens of Earth.

In between came Expanding Universe, Political Conscience, Lunar, Landscape of the Mind, Skin and Bones, Gravity, Earth and New Nature.

Three gold and brass abstract sculptures from the 1920s on white plinths, with a dark wooden piece beside them

The show included his brass work of 1928, stage sets and playground models. Some of the stage designs were for the choreographer Martha Graham.

Stage set pieces in red-brown wood and black, with white angular shapes, standing on a white floor

The climbing frame is a set element for Erick Hawkins's Stephen Acrobat, designed in 1947.

A colourful climbing frame of red, yellow and blue poles against a white wall

A white marble maquette in the shape of a spiral slide sat low on the floor.

A white marble spiral shaped like a slide, seen from above on the gallery floor

What Is Akari?

Akari are Noguchi's paper lamps. He began them in 1951, after the mayor of Gifu asked him to modernise the town's paper lanterns, and Ozeki & Co. in Gifu has made them by hand.

At the Barbican they hung over the sculptures, so the gallery was lit by them. A cloud of Akari also filled the Barbican Conservatory.

In one corridor a tall column of stacked lamps glowed beside the wall.

A tall column of stacked white paper lamps glowing in a dim corridor, with a visitor walking past

Over a curved stone sculpture, more lamps hung from the ceiling.

Paper lamps hanging over a curved stone sculpture and visitors in a warmly lit gallery

From the upper level you could see lamps and sculptures laid out across the floor.

A view down into the gallery from above, with round white lamps, low platforms and a visitor standing in front of a sculpture

The lamps did much of the lighting, so the sculptures sat in pools of warm light.

Glowing lanterns and dark wood sculptures on the floor of a large gallery seen from a raised walkway

A single lamp stood in front of a tall wooden sculpture and the Barbican's concrete wall.

A white paper lamp glowing in front of a tall dark wooden sculpture and a concrete wall

Who Was Isamu Noguchi?

Noguchi was born in Los Angeles on 17 November 1904 and died in New York on 30 December 1988. His mother, Léonie Gilmour, was an American of mostly Irish descent. His father, Yone Noguchi, was a Japanese poet.

Constantin Brancusi's 1926 exhibition changed his direction. A Guggenheim Fellowship was awarded in 1926, and in 1927 he worked in Brancusi's studio in Paris for about seven months. The Noguchi Museum in Long Island City opened in 1985.

What Did the Critics Think?

Reviews ranged widely. The Independent, Time Out and CultureWhisper each gave five stars, the Arts Desk gave four, and the Guardian gave two.

Where Did the Show Go Next?

After London it went to Museum Ludwig in Cologne, from 26 March to 31 July 2022. It then showed at Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, from 23 September 2022 to 8 January 2023, and at LaM in Lille, from 17 March to 2 July 2023.

In London, White Cube Bermondsey showed more of his work from 4 February 2022. I cover it on my page about Isamu Noguchi: A New Nature. The V&A's collection also includes Akari lamps.

Noguchi at the Barbican: Practical Notes

📍 Where: Barbican Art Gallery, Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS.

📅 Open days: 30 September 2021 to 23 January 2022, extended from 9 January 2022.

⏰ Opening: Sunday to Wednesday, 10am to 6pm, with last entry at 5pm. Thursday to Saturday, 10am to 8pm, with last entry at 7pm. On 20 to 22 January the gallery opened until 10pm.

🎫 Admission: Ticketed.

🚇 Getting there: Barbican or Moorgate, on the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, or St Paul's, on the Central line.

🗺️ Nearby: The City of London, with Leadenhall Market and my page on Christmas in the City of London, and St Paul's Cathedral, covered in the February 2025 light show.

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All photos were taken by Ina/WithinLondon, unless stated otherwise.