Born in the United States, Isamu Noguchi lived in Japan until he was 13 years old and was deeply affected by Japanese art and culture. In 1930 the artist returned to Japan to study its sculptural traditions and ceramics. Miss Expanding Universe was the first sculpture Noguchi made upon his return to the United States in 1932. In this work, he combined machine-age streamlining with characteristics of ancient Japanese funerary sculpture (haniwa). Later the same year, Noguchi transformed this flowing form into a sacklike costume for the pioneering dancer and choreographer Ruth Page and her ballet Expanding Universe.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Oliver W. Larkin, Art and Life in America, (New York: Rinehart), 1949.
Isamu Noguchi, Isamu Noguchi: A Sculptor’s World (New York and Evanston: Harper & Row, 1968), p. 21.
Martin Friedman, Noguchi’s Imaginary Landscapes: An Exhibition Organized by Walker Art Center, exh. cat. (Minneapolis: Walker Art Center, 1978), pp. 48, 88.
Sam Hunter, Isamu Noguchi (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), p. 46.
Nancy Grove and Diane Botnick, The Sculpture of Isamu Noguchi, 1924-1979: A Catalogue (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1980), cat. 95.
Richard Guy Wilson: The Machine Age in America: 1918-1941, exh. cat. (New York: Brooklyn Museum/Harry N. Abrams, 1986), pp. 264-265).
Bruce Altschuler, Isamu Noguchi (New York and London: Abbeville Press Publishers, 1994), p. 23.
John Martin, Ruth Page: An Intimate Biography (New York: Dekker, 1977), p. 81.
Jane Dini, ed., et al., Dance: American Art, 1830-1960 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2016), p. 280.
Dakin Hart, Isamu Noguchi: Archaic/Modern, exh. cat. (Washington, DC, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2016), pp. 28–29.
Liesel OLson, with poems by Eve L. Ewing, Chicago Avant-Garde: Five Women Ahead of Their Time, exh. cat. (Chicago: Newberry Library, 2021), 50, 51, 53 (ill.).
Chicago Historical Society, Ruth Page: A Moment in Modernism, June 15, 1991– Jan. 6, 1992 no cat.
The artist; Ruth Page, Chicago, Illinois [Martin 1977]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1994.
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