BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//PYVOBJECT//NONSGML Version 1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:events.uid.952@www.discovernikkei.org DTSTART:20060219T000000Z DTEND:20060219T000000Z DESCRIPTION:As part of the installation of the international traveling exhi bition\, <b><a href="http://www.janm.org/exhibits/noguchidesign">Isamu Nog uchi – Sculptural Design</a></b>\, the Japanese American National Museum will host the public program\, <b>"An Enduring Odyssey: Masayo Duus and P eter Duus Talk About the Life and Times of Isamu Noguchi"</b> on Sunday\, Feb. 19\, beginning at 2 p.m.\n\nAuthor Masayo Duus has written what criti cs have described as the definitive biography of artist Isamu Noguchi\, or iginally published in 2004\, the 100th anniversary of his birth. Her husba nd\, Peter Duus\, a historian\, did the English translation for <i>The Lif e of Isamu Noguchi: Journey without Borders</i>\, which examines Noguchi ’s life in great detail. Born as Sam Gilmour to a Japanese father\, Yone jiro Noguchi\, and an American mother\, Leonie Gilmour\, Noguchi spent his life expressing his bicultural heritage in his work\, often fusing togeth er elements and aesthetics from East and West.\n\nThe first full-length bi ography of the artist\, the book draws on Noguchi's letters\, his reminisc ences\, and interviews with his friends and colleagues to cast new light o n his youth\, his creativity\, and his relationships. Noguchi was born in Boyle Heights and his mother moved them to Japan when he was three in an a ttempt to be close to his father. That relationship never developed and yo ung Sam eventually was sent to school in Indiana\, where\, after some stru ggles\, he lived a life similar to many young American boys in the 1910s a nd 1920s. His exceptional artistic talents took him to New York City and e ventually Paris\, where he befriended Alexander Calder and became an assis tant to Constantin Brancusi.\n\nDuus also reveals much about Noguchi’s p ersonal life\, including his many romances with such public figures as dan cer Ruth Page\, painter Frida Kahlo and writer Anais Nin. Yet his own sens e of being an outsider never ended. "With my double nationality and my dou ble upbringing\, where was my home?" he once wrote. "Where were my affecti ons? Where my identity?" This search even led to his voluntarily entering the Poston\, Arizona\, World War II concentration camp to be with other Ja panese Americans in hopes of improving their lives. His proposed projects for a park and a recreation center were never realized and he left camp af ter several months.\n\nAs the exhibition makes clear\, Noguchi\, in his si x decades of work\, explored various fields of both applied and the fine a rts. Besides creating over 2\,500 sculptures\, he designed stage sets for choreographer Martha Graham\, invented furniture for Herman Miller and dev eloped his own style of landscape architecture all over the world. He ofte n traveled to Japan\, seeking to explore his father's world and collaborat ed with many Japanese artists.\n\nThe exhibition was organized by the Vitr a Design Museum\, Weil am Rhein\, Germany\, in cooperation with the Isamu Noguchi Foundation Inc.\, New York. The exhibition design and visual conce pt by Robert Wilson were developed at the Watermill Center on Long Island\ , New York.\n\nMasayo Duus has written several books on the history of Jap anese Americans and U.S.-Japan relations and has published collections of her essays on life in America. Translations of her work include <i>The Jap anese Conspiracy: The Oahu Sugar Strike of 1920</i> and <i>Unlikely Libera tors: The Men of the 100th and the 442nd</i>. Peter Duus is William H. Bon sall Professor of History at Stanford University. His most recent book is <i>Japanese Discovery of America</i>.\n\nAll <i>Isamu Noguchi - Sculptural Design</i> public programs are free with admission to the exhibition. Sea ting is first-come\, first-served. Reservations are recommended. All progr ams are free for National Museum members\, unless otherwise noted. For non -members\, public programs are included with admission to the Noguchi exhi bition ($12 adults\, $9 seniors 62 & over\, $8 students). Children five an d under are free. For more information call (213) 625-0414.\n\n<b>For more information\, visit the <a href="http://www.janm.org/exhibits/noguchidesi gn/">exhibition website</a></b>.\n\nJapanese American National Museum\n369 East First Street\nLos Angeles\, CA 90012\n<a href="http://www.janm.org/" >www.janm.org</a> DTSTAMP:20240420T024824Z SUMMARY:Masayo\, Peter Duus to discuss Isamu Noguchi Feb. 19 (Los Angeles) URL:/en/events/2006/02/19/masayo-peter-duus-to-discuss-isamu-noguchi-feb-19 -/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR