AV_CTE_004D_1986_02

52m 54.0s

1941 car trip to California with Arshile Gorky and Agnes Ethel Magruder. Discussing emigration by artists fleeing Europe in the 1940s - Pearl Harbor and beginning of US involvement in World War II. Noguchi’s initial concern with the Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans) - founding Nisei Writers and Artists Mobilization for Democracy. Political tensions within the Nisei - Noguchi’s disillusionment with the Communists for supporting internment of Japanese-Americans. Noguchi’s decision to be interned in California with the Nisei - introduction to John Collier, head of the Office of Indian Affairs - internment at the Poston War Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona.. Seven months in Poston internment camp - life among the Nisei. Discussion of the Tolan Committee - decision to intern Japanese-Americans - Thomas Mann’s plea on behalf of German-Americans to avoid internment - Joe DiMaggio speaking on behalf of Italian-Americans. Noguchi filmed the beginning of the Japanese-American evacuation but the footage was seized by the police - discussion of loyalties, allegiance, patriotism - questioning Milton Eisenhower after the war about the necessity of internment - question of reparations for the internees. Discussion of Japanese nationalism. Noguchi’s ambiguous national identification - differences with American identity of Nisei - privilege of artistic license. Discussion of Ronald Reagan - Noguchi compares Reagan to an artist who appeals to the American imagination - fear of what happens when artists take political power - Adolf Hitler’s similar function in Germany. Noguchi’s sculptural bust work - Ginger Rogers (176) - attempting to design Poston internment camp - continual questioning of Noguchi’s loyalty. Difficulties in bringing Yoshiko Yamaguchi into the US - simultaneously while designing Project for Lever Brothers Building, New York (407) - climate of fear during McCarthy era - postwar anti-Communist suspicion. Differences in Japan and America on free speech. Discussion of Yoshiko Yamaguchi’s political career in Japan. Langdon Warner’s and Frank Lloyd Wright’s letters to Noguchi in the internment camp. Noguchi’s complicated relationship to citizenship and his difficulties as a child in both Japanese and American schools - fighting at St Joseph’s College. [Discussions in Japanese].

Multimedia Collection > Sound Recordings > Interviews