Grey Sun

Believing that sculpture should be ​“an equivalent for natural forms and forces,” Isamu Noguchi explored the sun’s vital power in this massive marble. He derived its shape from a millstone, which, ​“inverted and elevated, becomes a sun-like image.” Born in California to an American mother and Japanese father, Noguchi spent most of his childhood in Japan before continuing his education in the American Midwest, New York City, and Paris. This piece reflects his internationalist life and perspective, a blend of the biomorphic abstraction of European surrealism and traditional Japanese stonework.