Isamu Noguchi

Rain Mountain

Isamu Noguchi wrote that Rain Mountain evoked “the spirit, Chinese mountains seen in mist, as shadow...the different moods of nature were in my thoughts.” Noguchi traveled to Beijing in 1930 and briefly studied with Qi Baishi (1864-1957), a Chinese painting master. Under Qi’s tutelage, Noguchi practiced painting on large sheets of paper on the floor, experimenting with human form. Rain Mountain not only nods to this experience, but also represents a major cornerstone in the development of abstraction in Noguchi’s early sculptural career.