Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer”

Despite his assertion in 1949, “I am not a designer,” internationally acclaimed artist Isamu Noguchi’s work exemplifies the broadest definition of design, ranging from sculpture and furniture to playgrounds, landscapes, and theatrical sets. Isamu Noguchi: “I am not a designer”— the artist’s first design retrospective exhibition in nearly twenty-five years—features all facets of his creative output, including many works that have never been exhibited or are rarely seen.

For Noguchi, creating art with civic purpose was of central importance. Over the course of his career, he blended the aesthetic and utilitarian to address the social concerns of the day. This exhibition repositions Noguchi’s design practice, sometimes considered secondary to his “real” work, to reinforce that this work was not merely a backdrop for his sculpture—it anchors him as a designer in his own right.

About the Artist

Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988) is widely regarded as among the twentieth century’s most accomplished and renowned artists. Born in Los Angeles to a Japanese poet father and an American writer mother, Noguchi spent parts of his youth in both Japan and the United States, a bicultural upbringing that deeply influenced his aesthetic. Throughout his career, he deeply engaged with the role of art in public life, creating plazas, playgrounds, gardens, and memorials that harmonize art, architecture, and nature. His industrial and commercial designs, including famed Herman Miller furniture and “Akari” light fixtures, continue to stand among the most well-known and celebrated today.

The exhibition is organized by the High Museum of Art in Atlanta where it will open in the spring of 2026 and will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The tour will end at MAG in spring 2027. Monica Obniski, the High’s Curator of Decorative Arts and Design and independent curator and sculpture scholar Marin R. Sullivan co-curated the exhibition.