Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco The exhibition explores the work and friendship of artists Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) and Saburo Hasegawa (1906–1957). U.S.-born sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) and Japanese painter, theorist and teacher Saburo Hasegawa (1906–1957) both reacted to the catastrophic effects of the war by questioning how art could balance tradition and modernity, Japanese culture and foreign influences, past and present. They were both committed to modernist practices, such as the removal of the inessential, truth to materials and a utopian belief of the power of art to improve society, but felt that modernism needed a new direction, one that could be provided by a deep exploration of Japanese art and design. Together, they visited historic gardens, palaces and temples around Kyoto to immerse themselves in traditional Japanese culture. Image: H...
