Isamu Naguchi at the Barbican
I'd not come across Noguchi, a Japanese/American sculptor, previous to my visit to the Barbican in London but I was in town, looking for an exhibition to see and thought I'd take a risk. What a wonderful way to spend an hour+ on a rainy December morning. He studied with Brancusi in Paris when he was young, and as I had visited Brancusi's studio as a teenager I was hooked from the start.
The combination of materials he used throughout his life, the fact that I didn't know he had popularised the paper lanterns that were so prolific in the far east (I probably thought that Habitat had invented them!) and the fact that there were so many stewards on guard .... probably to stop visitors like me stroking the stone and touching the washi paper! made it a very engaging show for me, possibly helped by the fact that there were no barriers around the pieces - you could meander and swerve around and through the space. There were also a number of videos featuring sets he had designed for the American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, and a long but fascinating film of interviews with Noguchi at the end which was both delightful and insightful. A very uplifting show on until 23 January 2022.
