Narrator: In the 1940s, Isamu Noguchi had a studio in Greenwich Village and attended meetings of the club. Dore Ashton spoke about how Noguchi’s work tapped into his Japanese identity.
Dore Ashton: By the time he did this sculpture, he had been back to Japan twice and spent time there and in fact was trying to proselytize young Japanese artists who turned completely away from their own traditions. And he was trying to tell him, “No, you have this great tradition.” Which, of course, in this case is the Zen tradition.
And he began to do these works out of a conviction, I think. That this had to be reintroduced. I even have photographs of hum looking for stones that spoke to him about spirituality.