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Driftwood  
 41 x 21 x 8 1/4" (104.1 x 53.3 x 20.9 cm)  
 No secondary markings  
 Florene May Schoenborn Bequest  
 © 2010 Estate of Isamu Noguchi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Isamu Noguchi. My Pacific (Polynesian Culture). 1942 111

Driftwood, 41 x 21 x 8 1/4" (104.1 x 53.3 x 20.9 cm). Florene May Schoenborn Bequest. © 2018 Estate of Isamu Noguchi / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Narrator:  Try looking at this sculpture from different angles and see what you notice. Does it look smooth or rough? Hard or soft?

The artist, Isamu Noguchi, made this work using driftwood. It’s wood that has washed up onto the shore of a sea, lake, or river.

Artist, Isamu Noguchi: I like working with wood or something like that, you see, because I’m interested in utilizing the natural forces in that material. It’s natural for certain materials to be used in certain ways. You know, with wood, you can cut it or you can bend it.

Narrator: Nature was a huge source of inspiration for Noguchi.

Isamu Noguchi: All our imagination derives very much from nature, you know? It’s part of our experience on this earth that we are involved with. We walk upon it, it’s a part of our environment. It’s the world and the world then becomes a sculpture.

Narrator: Can you see where the artist may have transformed the material? What about the spots where he cut it away or shaved it down? Where do you think he might have left the material as he found it?