Isamu Noguchi’s Skyviewing Sculpture was
created by invitation for Western Washington
University, north of Seattle, in 1969. The 14-foot
high sculpture, which sits in the university’s central
quad, acts as an observatory, encouraging viewers
to enter and turn their gaze to the sky.
‘Skyviewing’ was a leitmotif in Noguchi’s art
throughout his long career as an artist and
landscape architect, from his early work alongside
Constantin Brancusi in Paris in 1928 to his death
in 1988. Some sculptures act as reflecting
telescopes with polished stone that mirror the
firmament while others trace the path of the sun
with cast shadows or lead the eye up towards the
sky. The work at Western invites the viewer in, and
guides the eye upwards to observe the sky in all
of its variety.
Looking Up explores Noguchi’s work on the themes
of space, charting our place in the universe,
and ‘skyviewing’; examines the changing artistic
climate during his long career; and places him
in context with a younger generation of artists,
including Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, James
Turrell, and Charles Ross. The book includes
essays by leading specialists, as well as a plate
section and contemporary photos of the
creation, transportation and installation of
Skyviewing Sculpture
.