"Akari E"
Designer Isamu Noguchi American
Manufacturer Ozeki & Co., Ltd.
Not on view
The interlocking geometric shapes of this hanging lamp evoke traditional Japanese lanterns. In the early 1950s Noguchi traveled to the Japanese town of Gifu, whose mayor requested the widely respected American sculptor to help revive the dying lamp-making industry for which the town traditionally was known; its craftsmen had been reduced to providing cheap, painted-silk party decorations. The name Akari, which is Japanese for "light," suggests Noguchi's intention to create luminous sculptures that were also practical sources of illumination, underlining the close relationship between art and design.
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