Isamu Noguchi: 'I Am Not a Designer'

A major retrospective offers a new perspective on the work of Noguchi, whose remarkable design and artistic legacy encompasses sculpture, lighting, furniture, ceramics, public plazas, and garden design.

As part of its 100th anniversary celebrations in 2026, the High Museum of Art is launching an exhibition and accompanying catalogue, which together explore the extraordinary sixty-year career of influential artist and designer Isamu Noguchi. Next year is also the fiftieth anniversary of Playscapes, a Noguchi-designed playground located just a few blocks from the museum. Though Noguchi claimed he was not a designer, the High Museum approaches his work through the design lens, bringing to light many potently prescient and under-explored aspects of his practice. Noguchi exemplified the interdisciplinary, social-minded approach to the role of artist-designer, and his never-ending search for modes of expression reflected an unusually expansive view that extended across everything from sculpture, furniture, and lighting to landscapes, stage sets, and kitchen timers.

This comprehensive volume features more than twenty in-depth essays and shorter vignettes by an impressive international roster of scholars and curators, addressing all aspects of Noguchi’s design practice. In addition, a rich and diverse selection of more than 250 archival and contemporary images depict the works in the exhibition as well as illuminate and expand on Noguchi’s exceptional career.

Essential reading for Noguchi fans, this book also appeals to lovers of modern art, mid-twentieth-century architecture and design, and the creative ethos that imbues everything Noguchi.

Monica Obniski is curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the High Museum of Art. Marin R. Sullivan is an independent art historian and curator. Glenn Adamson is a curator, writer, and historian. Marci Kwon is an assistant professor of art and art history at Stanford University. Alexandra Lange is a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic. Ken Tadashi Oshima is a professor in the department of architecture at the University of Washington.