Art Eyewitness Review: Noguchi to Asawa at the Barnes Foundation

 

Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America

Barnes Foundation

September 20, 2026 – January 10, 2027  

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

December 7, 1941 was, in the indelible words of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, "a date which will live in infamy."

For millions of Americans of the World War II generation, December 7th or Pearl Harbor Day changed their lives forever. An intriguing new exhibition at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia focuses on six American artists whose wartime experience influenced extraordinary careers in art and design once the shooting stopped. 

To an amazing and unexpected degree, the "look" of America's Mid-century Modern culture and 1960-70's graphic style were shaped by these six artists. The adversity they confronted and the skills they developed during the war years inspired their creative outlook during the era of affluence which followed.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition. Isamu Noguchi's 

Akari Model E Lamp, 1954 Design, is shown at left.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibit,showing

 record albums and book jackets designed by S. Neil Fujita

There is an ethical dimension, however, to Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America at the Barnes which seldom figures in art exhibitions. The most dangerous war zone, 1941-1945, for these six artists was the Home Front.

The devastating bombardment of Pearl Harbor by Japanese aircraft was launched without a formal declaration of war. This "sneak" attack triggered a violent reaction against Japan by many Americans who watched news films of U.S. warships and aircraft battered by the Sunday morning air raid.

“Battleship Row” at Pearl Harbor under attack, as seen from a Japanese aircraft, December 7, 1941. (Naval History & Heritage Command)

As the bodies of nearly 2,500 sailors, soldiers and some civilians were buried, a battle cry could be heard across the U.S.A.

Remember Pearl Harbor! 

For 70,000 U.S. citizens, however, the " day of infamy" did not end on December 7, 1941. 

These 70,000 American citizens of Japanese-descent were incarcerated by Executive Order 9066, signed by President Roosevelt. Along with them were 50,000 Japanese nationals, who had legally come to live and work in the U.S.

The motivation for this appalling act of injustice was the fear - completely unjustified, in the case of the actual U.S. citizens, and very dubious for the Japanese immigrants - that these Japanese-Americans would act in concert with further aggression by the Japanese military.

Many of these 120,000 victims of wartime hysteria and U.S. government scapegoating lost their homes, farms and businesses. They were "relocated" to remote camps - in western states like Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arkansas and Arizona - until the end of the war in 1945. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Kay Sekimachi's Tanforan, watercolor on paper depiction of the Tanforan, California, temporary detention camp, c. 1942

Some of those incarcerated were released prior to the surrender of Japan, thanks to the sponsorship of concerned groups of U.S. citizens. Others joined the U.S. Army's 442nd Regiment and fought with conspicuous gallantry in the Italian campaign against Nazi Germany. S. Neil Fujita, whose trendsetting designs for record albums and book covers appear above, was one of the men of the 442nd.

Most of the Japanese-Americans "relocated" to the camps refused to be imprisoned in their hearts, minds and souls. In an amazing process, surveyed by the Barnes exhibition, their resilience led to personal transformation and achievement. 

As mentioned above, six artists are featured in the Barnes exhibition. Five of them spent the war years - or a significant period of time - in the internment camps. 

The six artists are: 

• Isamu Noguchi(1904-1988)
• George Nakashima (1905-1990)
• Leo Amino (1911-1989)
• S. Neil Fujita (1921-2010)
• Kay Sekimachi (born 1926)
• Ruth Asawa (1926-1913)

Of these six, Noguchi and Asawa are likely the most well-known, today.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi, a popular figure of the New York art scene was exempt from Executive Order 9066, unlike Japanese-Americans living in the West Coast states. Noguchi's designs for modernist sculptures were highly praised in avant-garde circles and, in 1940, he created a striking bas relief, News, for the Associated Press headquarters in Rockefeller Center.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Isamu Noguchi's Prismatic Table, designed in 1957.

 This work can be seen in the portrait photo of Noguchi, above.

Although exempt, Noguchi volunteered to serve in the camps. He helped to organize educational programs for young Japanese-American children and teenagers, like Ruth Asawa, suddenly deprived of schooling as well home life. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Ruth Asawa

Ruth Asawa, whose family were farmers in California, received her first art lesson from artists for the Walt Disney Studio, sent like her to a detention camp because of the "danger" they represented to U.S. national security. For the young Asawa, it was the first, unlikely step to a sensational art career.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

Ruth Asawa’s student sketch at Black Mountain College, c. 1946-49

After the war, Asawa studied with Josef Albers and Buckminster Fuller at Black Mountain College, the experimental art school in North Carolina. There she developed an artistic skill set which would enable her to create a wide range of masterpieces, notably her "continuous form" sculptures.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (S.168, Hanging Single-Lobbed,

 Three layers of Spheres) c. 1952

The portrait photos shown above greet visitors as they enter the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition. Initially, these six photos are the only objects of note displayed in the bleak, austere opening space of the exhibit. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Gallery view of the entrance area to the Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America exhibition at the Barnes Foundation.

Here, the gallery walls are lined with black tar paper to recall the material used on the living quarters at the  camps.

This alien atmosphere is a deliberate attempt to convey the impact on loyal Americans of being turned-out of their homes and communities and being banished to unfamiliar surroundings. 

Space in any museum gallery is always at a premium. It was a problem for  "relocated" Japanese-Americans, too. Family apartment size was 20 x 25 feet (often less), with communal bath rooms and meals eaten in mess halls.

The Roberts special exhibition gallery at the Barnes is moderately-sized. To devote a significant part of this area as basically empty space to establish a mood of deprivation or incarceration is very evocative. But it was a problematic decision from a curatorial standpoint. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

  Cindy Kang, Curator at the Barnes Foundation

With the lives and careers of six artists to consider, the question of what to include - and what to exclude - in the remaining exhibit area can only have been immensely challenging for Cindy Kang, the Barnes' charismatic curator.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition, showing pieces of “found” wood, collected by Japanese-American artists, 1942-45

Kang's choice for the lead-off display of actual art works was brilliant. She  selected four sculptures made of "found" wood which had been retrieved from the desert and prairie around the camps. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Dried bitterbrush collected by George Nakashima at the

 Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho, c. 1942

These powerful, compelling works were created in response to the U.S. government's failure to supply art materials in support of Noguchi's educational initiative. Noguchi and his fellow artists and students in the camps scoured their surroundings for sun-bleached, wind-sanded bits of branches and roots to use in stunning works of art like these.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of George Nakashima

For George Nakashima, this carving experience transformed his artistic vision. Before the war, Nakashima had traveled, on board a tramp steamship, around the world in a quest to study architecture. But setting his hands - and his spirit - on pieces of driftwood turned him into a sculptor and a designer. 

Nakashima absorbed the natural flow and texture of previously ignored bits of organic debris, using these insights as the foundation for post-war masterpieces.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 George Nakashima's Conoid Chair (left) and Straight-Back Chair

From Nakashima's New Hope, PA, studio would issue designs for Mid-Century Modern icons like his Straight-Back Chair (c.1946) and Conoid Chair (1967).  Among his unique, handcrafted designs were powerful testaments to peace, such as the altar table he created for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

George Nakashima, Altar for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City, 1986. Photo (2021)

In the case of Leo Amino, the process was reversed. Born in Taiwan of Japanese parents, Amino came to the U.S. in 1929. Living and working in New York City, Amino was exempt from being sent to a relocation camp in 1942. Instead, he served as an interpreter in the U.S. military.

Amino taught himself direct carving on wood for which he showed real genius. But he became intrigued with a new material - polyester resin, i.e. plastic. 

Anne Lloyd, Photos (2026)

Leo Amino's wood carving, Air Raid, 1940 (left); Amino's

  Composition #8, 1947, made from polystyrene, plaster & thread

Amino cast molds for shaping plastic into stunning abstract shapes. His innovative skill at handling the new material was so accomplished that you would swear at first glance that he was working with glass. Experimenting with color dyes in the resin, Amino created sensational abstract works that could stand comparison with paintings by Mondrian and Kenneth Noland.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

  Refractional #21, created 1967 

Leo Amino might very well have become celebrated as the sculptor-counterpart of the Ab-Ex painters, just as Rodin was for the Impressionists. The mystery is that Amino never came close to such acclaim. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Leo Amino 

Mystery, in fact, defines Amino. He worked steadily and with undiminished skill during the postwar era. He taught at Cooper Union and frequently exhibited at the Whitney. Yet, Amino was so self-effacing that there are few photos of him. The one displayed in the exhibit (above) shows him partially obscured by one of his sculptures. 

At this point in the exhibition, I wanted to learn more about Leo Amino as an individual artist, not one of six artists. The same was true for S. Neil Fujita and Kay Sekimachi. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of S. Neil Fujita

 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Kay Sekimachi

Less well-known than Noguchi and Asawa, Fujita and Sekimachi are fascinating people and important, influential artists. 

S. Neil Fujita, as noted above, created graphic designs which defined the 1960's and 70's. The puppet-strings image of The Godfather was everywhere and I recall reading Futureshock with its cover designed by Fujita. 

Kay Sekimachi, whose 100th birthday was celebrated in September, is known as the "weaver's weaver." However, you won't find many strands of wool in Sekimachi's wall hangings or ethereal works suspended from the ceiling. Thoroughly modern, Sekimachi used fiber glass yarn and nylon monofilament - synthetic fishing-poll line - to create her signature works.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

Fishnets, created by Kay Sekimachi, c. 1957

In a wise decision, Kang chose to exhibit the works of a half-dozen artists, not just one or two. As a result, I learned about Amino, Fujita and Sekimachi, as well as the more familiar Noguchi, Awawa and Nakashima. But the flip side of this wide-ranging exhibition was an unfortunate lack of depth in exploring the personal dimension of the lives of all six.

Five of these Japanese-American artists spent time in detention camps, courtesy of the U.S. government. Yet each was totally unique and individualistic as a creative spirit, with scarcely a trace of bitterness in their art.

How was this possible? There is just not enough in the way of life-stories in Noguchi to Asawa to reach any kind of conclusions in this respect.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026)

 Gallery view of Noguchi to Asawa:  at left, Kay Sekimachi's Kunoyuki, c. 1968, and Ogawa II, 1969; at right, is Ruth Asawa's Untitled (S. 272 Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form), c. 1954 

Suffice to say that Noguchi to Asawa is a very fine exhibit. There are certainly more than enough works of art on view for us to grasp the central, most significant fact for each of these Japanese-American artists. 

Executive Order 9066 impacted the lives of Noguchi, Asawa, Nakashima, Amino, Fujita and Sekimachi. It did not define them. These six artists were not victims of a harsh, prejudiced world. Instead, they triumphed over it.

***

Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved                                                  

Original photography, copyright of Anne Lloyd

 Introductory Image: Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America exhibition at the Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America exhibition at the Barnes Foundation. As left is Isamu Noguchi’s Akari Model E Lamp, 1954 design: Handmade washi paper, bamboo rigging and metal frame: 111 x 19 in. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition showing a display of record albums and book jackets designed by S. Neil Fujita.

“Battleship Row” at Pearl Harbor under attack, as seen from a Japanese aircraft, December 7, 1941. Naval History and Heritage Command.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Kay Sekimachi’s Tanforan, c. 1942. Watercolor on paper: 9 x 11 15/16 in. Bob Stockdale and Kay Sekimachi papers, Archives of Amercan Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Isamu Noguchi. Original photo by Jay-Bee Photo Studio, 1957. Noguchi Museum Archives.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Isamu Noguchi’s Prismatic Table, designed in 1957. Powdered-coated sheet aluminum: 15 x 18 x 18 in. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Ruth Asawa.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Ruth Asawa’s Sketch for Josef Alber’s Class at Black Mountain College, c. 1946-49. Mixed media on paper: 8 1/8 x 10 ½ in. Stanford University Libraries, Ruth Asawa papers

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Ruth Asawa’s Untitled (S.168, Hanging Single-Lobed, Three Layers of spheres), c. 1952. Copper and brass wire: 14 ½ x 17 x 17 in. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the entrance area of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition at the Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Cindy Kang, curator of the Barnes Foundation.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa exhibition, showing “found” wood, collected by, from left, Isamu Noguchi, Isamu Noguchi, George Nakashima and Leo Amino, c. 1942-1946.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Dried bitterbrush found by George Nakishima at the Minidoka War Relocation Center, Idaho, c. 1942. Wood: 5 ½ x 14 x 10 in. Nakashima Foundation for Peace.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of George Nakashima.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Nakashima’s Conoid Chair, 1967. Walnut, hickory spindles: 36 x 21 ½ and 16 ¼ in., Nakashima Foundation for Peace (left); Straight-backed Chair, c. 1945. Walnut: 30 x 17 ½ x 16 ¼ in. Philadelphia Museum of Art.

George Nakashima, Altar for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Nakashima#/media/File:Altar_for_peace_in_Cathedral_of_St._John_the_Divine_(2021).jpg

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Leo Amino’s Air Raid, 1940 (left) Wood: 9 7/8 x 14 ½ x 7 1/8 in., MOMA, NY, collection; Leo Amino’s Composition #8, 1947. Polystyrene, plaster and thread: 10 3/8 x 9 5/8 x 3 5/8 in. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Leo Amino’s Refractional #21, 1967. Polyester resin: 20 x 13 5/8 x 4 x 38 in. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Leo Amino, 1971. Unknown photographer. Courtesy of the Estate of Leo Amino.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of S. Neil Fujita, 1950’s. Unknown photographer. Private collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Copy of photo of Kay Sekimachi. Original photo by Stone and Steccati, undated.  Bob Stockdale and Kay Sekimachi papers, Archives of Amercan Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Kay Sekimachi’s Fishnets, c. 1957. Double-woven linen and fiberglass yarn, pickup technique: 12 ½ x 18 in. collection of Forrest L. Merrill

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2026) Gallery view of the Noguchi to Asawa: at left, Kay Sekimachi's Kunoyuki, c. 1968 (nylon monofilament: 64 x 14 x 14 in.), and Ogawa II, 1969 (six-layer woven nylon monofilament, glass beads, plastic tubing: 76 x 12 x 10 ½ in.); at right, is Ruth Asawa's Untitled (S. 272 Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form), c. 1954. Copper and iron wire: 111 x 14 x 14 in.