Editing Isamu Noguchi (section)

==Early travels (1927–1937)==
Noguchi arrived in Paris in April 1927 and soon afterward met the American author [[Robert McAlmon]], who brought him to Constantin Brâncuși's studio for an introduction. Despite a language barrier between the two artists (Noguchi barely spoke French, and Brâncuși did not speak English<ref>Duus, 2004. p. 114</ref>), Noguchi was taken in as Brâncuși's assistant for the next seven months. During this time, Noguchi gained his footing in [[stone sculpture]], a medium with which he was unacquainted, though he would later admit that one of Brâncuși's greatest teachings was to appreciate "the value of the moment".<ref>Kuh, 1962. p. 173</ref> Meanwhile, Noguchi found himself in good company in France, with letters of introduction from Michio Itō helping him to meet such artists as [[Jules Pascin]] and [[Alexander Calder]], who lived in the studio of [[Arno Breker]]. They became friends and Breker did a bronze bust of Noguchi.

Noguchi only produced one sculpture – his marble ''Sphere Section'' – in his first year, but during his second year he stayed in Paris and continued his training in [[stoneworking]] with the Italian sculptor Mateo Hernandes, producing over twenty more abstractions of wood, stone and [[sheet metal]]. Noguchi's next major destination was [[India]], from which he would travel east; he arrived in London to read up on Oriental sculpture, but was denied the extension to the Guggenheim Fellowship he needed.

In February 1929, he left for New York City. Brâncuși had recommended that Noguchi visit [[Romany Marie]]'s café in [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name="Biography">Robert Schulman. ''[[Romany Marie]]: The Queen of [[Greenwich Village]]'' (pp. 109–110). [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]]: Butler Books, 2006.  {{ISBN|1-884532-74-8}}.</ref> Noguchi did so and there met [[Buckminster Fuller]], with whom he collaborated on several projects,<ref name="Interview">{{cite web |url= http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/tranSCRIPTs/noguch73.htm |title= Interview with Isamu Noguchi |publisher= Conducted November 7, 1973, by Paul Cummings at Noguchi's studio in [[Long Island City, Queens]]. [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] Archives of American Art }}</ref><ref name="Glueck">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/19/arts/design/19nogu.html |title= The Architect and the Sculptor: A Friendship of Ideas |author= Grace Glueck |work= [[The New York Times]] |date= May 19, 2006 |author-link= Grace Glueck }}</ref><ref name="Haber">{{cite web |url= http://www.haberarts.com/fuller.htm |title= Before Buckyballs |author= John Haber |publisher= Review of [[Noguchi Museum]]'s Best of Friends exhibition (2006) }}</ref><ref name="Haskell">{{cite web|url=http://www.kgbbar.com/lit/features/buckminster_ful.html |title=Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi |author=John Haskell |work=Kraine Gallery Bar Lit, Fall 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513065703/http://www.kgbbar.com/lit/features/buckminster_ful.html |archive-date=May 13, 2008 }}</ref> including the modeling of Fuller's [[Dymaxion car]].<ref name="Gorman">{{cite web|url=http://shl.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/noguchi.htm |title=Passenger Files: Isamo Noguchi, 1904–1988 |author=Michael John Gorman |work=Towards a cultural history of Buckminster Fuller's [[Dymaxion Car]] |publisher=[[Stanford University|Stanford]] Humanities Lab |date=March 12, 2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070916004925/http://shl.stanford.edu/Bucky/dymaxion/noguchi.htm |archive-date=September 16, 2007 }} Includes images</ref>

Upon his return, Noguchi's abstract sculptures made in Paris were exhibited in his first one-man show at the Eugene Schoen Gallery. After none of his works sold, Noguchi altogether abandoned abstract art for portrait busts in order to support himself. He soon found himself accepting commissions from wealthy and celebrity clients. A 1930 exhibit of several busts, including those of [[Martha Graham]] and [[Buckminster Fuller]], garnered positive reviews,<ref>Jewell, Edward Allen (February 9, 1930). "Work by 6 Japanese Artists", ''The New York Times''.</ref> and after less than a year of portrait sculpture, Noguchi had earned enough money to continue his trip to Asia.

Noguchi left for Paris in April 1930, and two months later received his visa to ride the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]]. He opted to visit Japan first rather than India, but after learning that his father Yone did not want his son to visit using his surname, a shaken Noguchi instead departed for [[Beijing]]. In China, he studied brush painting with [[Qi Baishi]], staying for six months before finally sailing for Japan.<ref>[http://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/5098/ Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140902210309/http://fryemuseum.org/exhibition/5098/ |date=September 2, 2014 }}, Frye Art Museum (Seattle). Web page for exhibit February 22 – May 25, 2014. Retrieved May 11, 2014.</ref> Even before his arrival in [[Kobe]], Japanese newspapers had picked up on Noguchi's supposed reunion with his father; though he denied that this was the reason for his visit, the two did meet in Tokyo. He later arrived in [[Kyoto]] to study [[pottery]] with [[Uno Jinmatsu]]. Here he took note of local [[Zen garden]]s and [[haniwa]], clay funerary figures of the [[Kofun period]] which inspired his [[terracotta]] ''The Queen''.

Noguchi returned to New York amidst the [[Great Depression]], finding few clients for his portrait busts. However, he hoped to sell his newly produced sculptures and brush paintings from Asia. Though very few sold, Noguchi regarded this one-man exhibition (which began in February 1932 and toured Chicago, the west coast, and [[Honolulu]]) as his "most successful".<ref>Duus, 2004. p. 137</ref> Additionally, his next attempt to break into [[abstract art]], a large streamlined figure of dancer [[Ruth Page (ballerina)|Ruth Page]] entitled ''Miss Expanding Universe'', was poorly received.<ref>Duus, 2004. p. 140</ref> In January 1933 he worked in Chicago with [[Santiago Martínez Delgado]] on a mural for Chicago's [[Century of Progress]] Exposition, then again found a business for his [[Bust (sculpture)|portrait busts]].  He moved to London in June hoping to find more work, but returned in December just before his mother Leonie's death.

Beginning in February 1934, Noguchi began submitting his first designs for public spaces and monuments to the Public Works of Art Program. One such design, a monument to [[Benjamin Franklin]], remained unrealized for decades. Another design, a gigantic pyramidal [[earthworks (art)|earthwork]] entitled ''Monument to the American Plow'', was similarly rejected, and his "sculptural landscape" of a playground, ''Play Mountain'', was personally rejected by Parks Commissioner [[Robert Moses]]. He was eventually dropped from the program, and again supported himself by sculpting portrait busts. In early 1935, after another solo exhibition, the ''[[The Sun (New York)|New York Sun's]]'' [[Henry McBride (art critic)|Henry McBride]] labeled Noguchi's ''[[Death (statue)|Death]]'', depicting a [[lynching|lynched]] African-American, as "a little Japanese mistake".<ref>Noguchi, 1968. pp. 22–23</ref> That same year he produced the set for ''[[Frontier (ballet)|Frontier]]'', the first of many set designs for Martha Graham.

After the [[Federal Art Project]] started up, Noguchi again put forth designs, one of which was another earthwork chosen for the New York City airport entitled ''Relief Seen from the Sky''; following further rejection, Noguchi left for [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], where he again worked as a portrait sculptor to earn money for a sojourn in [[Mexico]]. Here, Noguchi was chosen to design his first public work, a relief mural for the [[Abelardo L. Rodríguez Market|Abelardo Rodriguez market]] in [[Mexico City]]. The 20-meter-long ''History as Seen from Mexico in 1936'' was hugely political and socially conscious, featuring such modern symbols as the [[Nazi]] [[swastika]], a [[hammer and sickle]], and the equation [[mass-energy equivalence|''E''&nbsp;=&nbsp;''mc''²]]. Noguchi also met [[Frida Kahlo]] during this time and had a brief but passionate affair with her; they remained friends until her death.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/weta/fridakahlo/life/people.html PBS—The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo]</ref>