Bending Figure

In this drawing Isamu Noguchi used a thick paintbrush to apply ink in serpentine lines and slashing strokes. By changing the pressure of his touch and twisting the tip of the brush, he varied the density and width of the outlines over the course of each stroke. Such variations suggest volumetric mass in an otherwise abstracted figure. After studying traditional Chinese brush drawing in Beijing in the early 1930s, Noguchi combined that technique with the reductive approach to form inspired by his mentor, the modernist sculptor Constantin Brancusi. This blending of Eastern and Western influences characterizes the art of Noguchi, who was of Japanese and American descent.