Noguchi Museum

The Noguchi Museum displays a comprehensive collection of artwork by the Japanese-American sculptor Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988). It is located in the neighborhood of Long Island City in New York City (USA), close to the East River.

The Los Angeles-born, globe-trotting artist first established studio and living quarters in Long Island City in 1961. In 1981, the Isamu Noguchi Foundation purchased adjacent land for what would first be called the “Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum,” which opened in 1985. Today, 13 galleries contained within a renovated cinderblock building, together with a garden, primarily house Noguchi’s marble, granite and basalt sculptures. Other work using a variety of media–including metal, wood, paper and clay–are exhibited in rotation. The museum adheres to Noguchi’s vision for how his work should be displayed, including placement of the sculptures and the eschewing of the usual labels adjacent to each work. The museum’s gift store stocks books by Noguchi and other artists sharing his minimialist aesthetic.

Many visitors, as well as museum staff, arrive by subway, then take a mile-long walk through a swath of Long Island City that offers a sampling of New York City life outside Manhattan.