Paris

SAVE THE DATE
Public opening on Thursday, September 10th from 6:30pm to 9pm

Shigeo Anzai, Venice Biennale photo album, June 29–September 28, 1986. Noguchi
Museum Archives, 158800. © Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum/ARS/Estate
of Shigeo Anzaï, Courtesy of Zeit-Foto

From the 10th to 26th of September, OGATA Paris will present Nature’s Way, an installation of Isamu Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures in collaboration with The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, in honor of the 75th anniversary of Akari.

Created by Isamu Noguchi from 1951 onward, the Akari light sculptures reinterpret the traditional craftsmanship of lantern-making in Gifu, Japan. Handcrafted by Ozeki & Co. using washi paper and bamboo, they embody the meeting of Japanese craftsmanship and modern design. Noguchi described them as objects that were “poetic, ephemeral, and tentative.”

The installation at OGATA Paris previews two special models of Akari, the VB1 and VB3, that Noguchi produced for his installation in the U.S. Pavilion at the 1986 Venice Biennale. Based on the triangle—a shape that Noguchi wrote “seems to be nature’s way”—the VB1 and VB3 are hanging pyramids that include an entirely unique feature among Noguchi’s series: stones. Though the lamps are suspended, they are constructed with cotton cords on each bottom corner, which tie to stones wrapped in Akari’s signature mulberry bark washi paper. The stones connect the hanging Akari to the floor, creating a singular style of hybrid lamp.

These Akari will be previewed at OGATA Paris, along with installation photos and other materials from The Noguchi Museum’s Archives, that tell more of the story of Noguchi’s participation in the Venice Biennale. The two models, produced by Ozeki & Co., Ltd, in Gifu, Japan, will then be made exclusively available in North America through The Noguchi Museum in November.

The 1986 exhibition in which they first appeared, titled What is Sculpture?, was a fitting space for Noguchi to introduce some of his most radically genre-defying Akari–neither floor nor hanging lamps, but spatial installations in and of themselves–to the public. He wrote of the exhibition: “I decided to take the opportunity to present my point of view: sculpture is more than the creation of objects of art. Sculpture is an experience that is wide and involves the total environment.” Forty years later, his groundbreaking perspective continues to resonate.

About Isamu Noguchi

Shigeo Anzai, Venice Biennale photo album, June 29–September 28, 1986. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 158775. © Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum/ARS/Estate of Shigeo Anzaï, Courtesy of Zeit-Foto

 
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the twentieth century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation, he created sculptures, gardens, furniture and lighting designs, ceramics, architecture, landscapes, and set designs. His work, at once subtle and bold, traditional and modern, set a new standard for the reintegration of the arts.

Learn more: https://www.noguchi.org/isamu-noguchi/biography/

OGATA Paris x The Noguchi Museum – Nature’s Way
From 10th to 26th September

Public opening:
Thursday 10th September 2026
18h30-21h　Inauguration & cocktail