''Sinai'' is a public artwork by the Japanese American artist

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...

, located at the

Lynden Sculpture Garden Lynden Sculpture Garden (formerly the Bradley Sculpture Garden) is a 40-acre outdoor sculpture park located at 2145 West Brown Deer Road in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in Milwaukee County. Formerly the estate of Harry Lynde Bradley and Margaret (Peg ) Bla ...

, which is near

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. ''Sinai'' is a cast-iron sculpture measuring high, wide, and deep. It is part of a series of work created between the 1967 and 1969, during which time Noguchi was collaborating with the Japanese stone carver Masatoshi Izumi.

Description

''Sinai'' is a cast

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

sculpture (1 of 6 casts) typical of iron modernist art sculpture of the late 1960s. The sculpture consists of a circular biomorphic ring form with square protrusions on the upper half. The sculpture is a dark iron, almost black in appearance. Noguchi was heavily influenced by Constantin Brâncuși's simplified and reduced forms that get at the essence of materials because of their minimal handling. His body of work in this time period is enigmatic; it becomes difficult to discern what the forms are or from where their inspiration was manifested. This enigma allows the viewer's mind to oscillate between potential representation to total abstraction based on elementary forms such as circles, tubes, curves, lumps, holes, etc. in conjunction with raw untouched surfaces as seen in some of his marble and granite carvings.

Background

Isamu Noguchi is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and revered artists of the 20th century. His artistic practice spanned many mediums including furniture design, traditional sculpture, ceramics, theater, dance, and gardens. Noguchi studied and worked collaboratively with a diverse group of visual artists, dancers, actors, and performance artists, some of these collaborations include sculptors

Onorio Ruotolo Onorio Ruotolo (1888–1966) was an Italian-American sculptor and poet, once known as the "Auguste Rodin, Rodin of Little Italy, Manhattan, Little Italy." Biography Ruotolo was born in Cervinara, Italy. He studied at the Royal Academy of Fin ...

and Constantin Brâncuși, dancer Martha Graham, dancer/choreographer

Merce Cunningham Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham (April 16, 1919 – July 26, 2009) was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of American modern dance for more than 50 years. He frequently collaborated with artists of other discipl ...

, composer John Cage, and stone carver Mosotoshi Izumi. Noguchi's prominence in the international art world made him a sought-after artist to collect. The

was originally the estate of Harry Lynde Bradley and Margaret (Peg) Blackney Bradley. In 1962 Peg Bradley began collecting work by some of the most renowned visual artists of the 20th century including Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore,

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

Mark Di Suvero Marco Polo di Suvero (born September 18, 1933, in Shanghai, China), better known as Mark di Suvero, is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient. Biography Early life and education Marco Polo di Suvero was bor ...

, and

Location history

"Sinai" is located at the

, 2145 West Brown Deer Road.

, WI 53217. The

is a 40-acre estate housing an extensive art collection that is internationally renowned, the estate was a private collection until just recently. In 2009 the Bradley Family Foundation opened the estate and collection to the public, which now houses a studio space and gallery.

References

*Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee A Cultural and Historical Guidebook, Buck, Diane M., Palmer, Virginia A., The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1995. *''Isamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design'', Isamu Noguchi, Vitra Design Museum, 2001. *Isamu Noguchi ''Essays and Conversations'', Edited by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona and Bruce Altshuler, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1994.

External links

The Noguchi Museum

The Pace Gallery

An Interview with Isamu Noguchi

PBS-Isamu Noguchi

Constantin Brancusi

Guggenheim

{{MilwaukeePublicArt 1967 sculptures Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee Sculptures in Wisconsin Iron sculptures in the United States 1967 establishments in Wisconsin Cast-iron sculptures