AV_CTE_004F_1986_01

1h 2m 48.0s

Thoughts on Leonie Gilmour - her decision to send Isamu to America - Leonie’s return to America - Ailes Gilmour. Dr. Edward A. Rumely and the Interlaken School - living with an Igorot boy named Agapowan - brought to America to be displayed at the San Francisco Fair. Emperor’s Day in Japan - suicides after the death of the Meiji Emperor. Buying prints and paintings in Japan - contemporary art sales. Building stone houses in Japan - concrete - Memorial to the Dead, Hiroshima (400) - the role of fires and earthquakes in Japanese urban environments. Koyaanisqatsi - Philip Glass. Discussion of Noguchi’s studio practice and assistants - frequency of visits to Japan. Returning to Leonie Gilmour in Japan - Leonie not fluent in Japanese - difficulties of being accepted. Some discussion of local issues in Mure - Masatoshi Izumi - Masanori Kaneko. Noguchi’s feelings about being sent to America - discrimination and perspection - initial feeling of adventure. First meeting between Isamu and his father, Yonejiro Noguchi. Trip to Japan in 1931 - discomfort in Tokyo and journey to Kyoto - Harada Jiro - Jinmatsu Uno. Isamu’s adoption of his father’s last name when Isamu decided to become a sculptor - prior to that he went by his mother’s name - Isamu Gilmour. Noguchi’s sense of independence, tied up with sense of being abandoned. Memories of crossing from Seattle to Rolling Prairie, Indiana via Chicago. Life in La Porte, Indiana - the Interlaken School - surviving Spanish Influenza when school converted into Army camp. Yonejiro Noguchi’s attempt to keep Isamu in Japan. Recollections of friends in Chigasaki - Leonie teaching English - Noguchi’s role in building the family home.

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