Book & Exhibition Talk: Culture, Collaboration, and Identity: Noguchi in the 1930s and 40s

Amy Lyford, professor of art history and the visual arts at Occidental College, will deliver a talk titled Culture, Collaboration, and Identity: Noguchi in the 1930s and 40s.

Building on themes developed in her new book, Isamu Noguchi's Modernism: Negotiating Race, Labor, and Nation, 1930-1950 (2013), Lyford will explore the complex interplay of community and identity in Noguchi's work of the 1930s and 40s. Although it is not always immediately apparent in the full range of his diverse artistic activity, Noguchi was always cognizant of, and deeply committed to, understanding and fostering art's social relevance.

Examining new archival material, little-known or unrealized works, and those that are more familiar, Lyford will offer a fresh perspective on Noguchi's relationship with some of the most important cultural and political issues of his time. The discussion will provide further context for the Museum's two fall exhibitions: Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930 and Space, Choreographed: Noguchi and Ruth Page, both on view through Jan. 26, 2014.