Visiting the Noguchi Museum *

The Noguchi Museum is near the waterfront in an industrial area of Long Island City, in Queens. It was formerly a factory and exists on a strange triangle of property purchased by Noguchi’s estate especially for this museum. It is a great location near beautiful city parks, though difficult for city transportation.

The space is beautiful and its austere interior is perfect for the artist’s aesthetics. After a long renovation they have almost the entire catalog on exhibit. The stone sculptures are perfect in the environment where they have plenty of space to breathe. Using archival notes from the artist himself, everything is presented as closely to his specifications as possible. The wonderful thing about the artist having lived in the 20^th century is that he was able to have input to how his legacy would be perceived. Since Noguchi was also adept at interiors, exteriors, and gardens it’s especially fascinating to see works displayed as he would had created them to be. The exterior works are a beautiful example of the Japanese aesthetic that Westerners sometimes have a difficulty appreciating. It’s interesting to note they also offer family programs here in Japanese. What a wonderful way to incorporate more of the diverse communities of NYC with arts institutions.

I can’t help but wonder if more artists had spaces dedicated to their work how enjoyable it would be to observe their work as they had intended it to be. Space is expensive and few artists truly have the catalog Noguchi had, but it is a wonderful fantasy to think of museums all over the city, next to coffee shops, above hair salons, down in the subway. I mention to the special teacher there for the family Grandparent’s Day activities how great it would have been if the city had worked together with the museum to put a Noguchi designed playground across the street where there are many waterside public spaces. Her response was, “…the city really dropped the ball on that one…”, implying to me that the bureaucracy of the city had won over the people yet again.