Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988). <em>My Uncle</em>, 1931. Terracotta, plaster, 16 1/2 × 9 × 8 in. (41.9 × 22.9 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 42.339. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.339_front_SL1.jpg)

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Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988). My Uncle, 1931. Terracotta, plaster, 16 1/2 × 9 × 8 in. (41.9 × 22.9 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 42.339. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.339_front_SL1.jpg)

Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

I thought Noguchi only made furniture?

His furniture is really well-known, and some of it is still in production I believe. He was also a sculptor, although his abstract sculptures were his most influential works. His use of terracotta in the 1930s was influenced by travel to China and Japan, where he viewed ancient terracotta sculptures of figures and animals. For this piece, Noguchi modeled this likeness of his uncle Takagi, a Buddhist priest, in gratitude for his hospitality during the artist's visit to Tokyo In 1931. One of three casts from the original clay sculpture, the head suggests the "closed-eye vision" achieved through meditation.

Is this a death mask?

Good guess! The piece shows a man with his eyes closed and his skin molded very loosely. Very similar to funerary masks we see from Ancient Egypt and other similar civilizations. However, this piece was made in 1931, so it's not really ancient.

What made you think of it as a death mask?

The Japanese don't have a custom to make death masks. So it gave me a strange impression.

Very good observation. Noguchi is Japanese American, but he's drawing parallels between customs from ancient civilizations and putting them in the modern world. His father was Japanese, but he wasn't present in Noguchi's life, so Noguchi may have felt conflicted about his Japanese heritage

What's this?

Many people think this work is ancient because it looks somehow similar to funerary masks we see from Ancient Egypt and other similar civilizations. However, this sculpture was made in 1931.

This work demonstrates the Japanese aesthetic concern of "wabi sabi" or the beauty found in imperfection, roughness, and incompleteness. this idea stems from Buddhist ideology, something Noguchi may have learned while staying with his uncle (who was a monk) or while he studied Japanese ceramics there.

My Uncle

Isamu Noguchi

American Art

The surface of this head is lifelike, but its expression may lead us to contemplate the psychic life at play behind the closed eyes. The sculptor Isamu Noguchi modeled this likeness of his uncle Takagi, a Buddhist priest, in gratitude for his hospitality during the artist’s visit to Tokyo in 1931. One of three casts from the original clay sculpture, the head suggests the “closed-eye vision” achieved through meditation.

ARTIST Isamu Noguchi, American, 1904-1988

MEDIUM Terracotta, plaster

DATES 1931

DIMENSIONS 16 1/2 × 9 × 8 in. (41.9 × 22.9 × 20.3 cm) (show scale)

SIGNATURE Incised at back of neck, proper left: "1931 / ISAMU"

COLLECTIONS American Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 42.339

CREDIT LINE Dick S. Ramsay Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Head of man facing frontally with eyes closed, loosely modeled surface. Molding seams are visible and there is plaster trapped in many of the recesses, presumably from the orignal mold. Condition: Good.

EXHIBITIONS

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904-1988). My Uncle, 1931. Terracotta, plaster, 16 1/2 × 9 × 8 in. (41.9 × 22.9 × 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 42.339. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 42.339_front_SL1.jpg)

IMAGE overall, 42.339_front_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph

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Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

I thought Noguchi only made furniture?

Is this a death mask?

What made you think of it as a death mask?

The Japanese don't have a custom to make death masks. So it gave me a strange impression.

What's this?

Many people think this work is ancient because it looks somehow similar to funerary masks we see from Ancient Egypt and other similar civilizations. However, this sculpture was made in 1931.

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My Uncle

Isamu Noguchi

American Art

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American Art

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