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Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A
Akari 14A

Akari 14A

Designed c. 1951-54
The Akari 14A’s form can be traced back to the first year of Isamu Noguchi’s designs for Akari light sculptures. It features mulberry bark washi paper, tight, evenly-spaced bamboo ribbing, wooden collars (wa), and a unique curved form. The shade is secured to the three-legged metal frame with a basswood crossbar, suspended from black cotton string. The top of the frame is accented with wrapped bamboo.
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As Seen In
Photo: Huan Nguyen, @_home4one
Photo: Yang Ran, @ran.yang_
Design by Charlap Hyman & Herrero. Photo: William Jess Laird
Design by Fisher Grey. Photo: Gregg Krantz and Joshua Thibault
From the Archives
In some of the earliest photographs involving Akari light sculptures, Isamu Noguchi is shown working on a paper template for a form.1,2 The lithe but curvaceous shape will, within weeks of his first visit to Gifu, Japan, and meeting with Ozeki & Co., Ltd., transform and be presented as one of two prototypes at a July 1951 tea ceremony hosted at the home of Charles and Ray Eames in Pacific Palisades, California.

The prototypes shown there, known shortly after as 9 and 14, are displayed with the Eames’ “The Toy” displayed as their backdrop, and Noguchi’s soon-to-be wife, movie star Yoshiko Yamaguchi, in the foreground.3,4

The two models are also photographed at Noguchi's earthen-walled Japanese studio, then situated on the land of famed ceramicist Rosanjin.5 In both locations, the 14 shade rests on a distinctive prototype stand featuring a crescent-curved top, which Noguchi discontinues shortly after but carries over from it a similar shape (in a larger scale), with the 33S shade that he designs.

The 14 appears, altered, at the first major Akari exhibition, at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura (1952).6 The overall size has shrunk, and its signature convexly curved midsection has migrated to the bottom of the cylindrical form. When it reappears at Chuo Koron Gallery in Tokyo (1954),8–10 its form has undergone another shift to its finalized form.

The size has grown again, but the curve has shrunk and been elevated on the cylinder. It also rests on a more standardized metal frame, shared with the other floor Akari of the time. An early promotional sheet shows the final version of the 14A and, helpfully, assembly instructions.

Not quite satisfied, Noguchi revived the original form of the 14 later in the series, scaled up and called the 34N, at the Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery exhibition in 1968–69.12
Isamu Noguchi working on a template for Akari, c. 1951. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 03602. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 1
Isamu Noguchi working on a template for Akari, with Tsutomu Hiroi, c. 1951. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 03601. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 2
Yoshiko Yamaguchi with Akari 9 and 14 at the Eames house, Pacific Palisades, California, 1951. Photo: Charles Eames. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 06930. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 3
Isamu Noguchi and Yoshiko Yamaguchi at the Eames house, Pacific Palisades, California, 1951. Photo: Charles Eames. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 06937. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 4
Interior of Isamu Noguchi’s Kita Kamakura studio, with Akari 9A and 14A, c. 1950s. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 03247. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 5
Installation view, “Isamu Noguchi Exhibition,” Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, September 23–October 19, 1952. Photo: Isamu Noguchi. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 05501. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 6
Akari Lamps by Isamu Noguchi promotional sheet, c. 1952. The Noguchi Museum Archives, LBD_50S_025_005. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 7
Akari Lamps by Isamu Noguchi promotional sheet, c. 1954. The Noguchi Museum Archives, AKA_PRI_001_003. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 8
About Akari Light Sculptures

Learn more about the history of Akari, one of Isamu Noguchi’s most successful efforts “to bring sculpture into a more direct involvement with the common experience of living.”

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