© Estate of Isamu Noguchi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Interpretation
Throughout his long career, Noguchi periodically returned to the lyrical style of abstract sculpture with biomorphic forms he developed as an apprentice in the Paris studio of Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi between 1927 and 1929. Here, a rounded, pinkish piece of marble is slotted through a flat, white, ovular piece, which the title suggests might resemble a funny face, possibly a smile with a protruding tongue. When viewed from another angle, however, the sculpture becomes a meditation on the delicate balance of two forms. The reflective black plinth elicits contemplation of a duality as well, mirroring the stone balanced on its surface in reverse, confounding the division between the sculpture and its base.
Information
- Title
- Funny Face
- Object Number
- y1977-87
- Maker
- Isamu Noguchi
- Medium
- Marble
- Dates
- 1976–77
- Dimensions
- 18.5 × 22.6 × 19.2 cm (7 5/16 × 8 7/8 × 7 9/16 in.) plinth: 44 × 35 × 2 cm (17 5/16 × 13 3/4 × 13/16 in.)
- Credit Line
- Gift of the artist for the William C. Seitz, Graduate School Class of 1955, Memorial Collection
- Culture
- American
- Inscriptions
- Inscribed on plinth, top surface, right rear: Isamu Noguchi
- Type
- Materials
Isamu Noguchi, New York, New York, gift; to Princeton University Art Museum, 1977.
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