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Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY
Akari 9AY

Akari 9AY

Designed c. 1952
The Akari 9AY’s form can be traced back to the first year of Isamu Noguchi’s designs for Akari light sculptures. A variation of the 9A, it features yellow screenprinted mulberry bark washi paper, tight, evenly-spaced bamboo ribbing, wa (wooden collars), and a rounded, saucer-like form. The top of its three-legged metal frame is accented with wrapped bamboo.
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9A
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9AD
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9AY
27
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From the Archives
Within weeks of visiting Gifu, Japan, meeting with Ozeki & Co., Ltd., and creating the concept for Akari light sculptures, Noguchi presented two prototypes at a July 1951 tea ceremony hosted at the home of Charles and Ray Eames in Pacific Palisades, California. The prototype is shown placed on tatami, with the Eames’ “The Toy” displayed as its backdrop, and Noguchi’s soon-to-be wife, movie star Yoshiko Yamaguchi, in the foreground.1,2

The two prototypes are also photographed at Noguchi’s earthen-walled Japanese studio, then situated on the land of famed ceramicist Rosanjin.3

As Noguchi refined the stands and shapes of his prototypes, patterned variations on the 9A are seen at early Akari exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura (1952),4 and Chuo Koron Gallery in Tokyo (1954).5 Early promotional sheets show the 9A and 9AY, and, helpfully, assembly instructions.6,7

Adjacent an essay for Craft Horizons in 1954, the 9A helps to introduce Noguchi’s first publicized words about Akari: “I hope I convey something which may be of value to others concerned with bringing alive, for ourselves and our times, the countless nuances of life from other times and places which otherwise are likely to pass away everywhere under the impact of our Western ‘progress.’”8,9
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. 1
Isamu Noguchi and Yoshiko Yamaguchi at the Eames house, Pacific Palisades, California, 1951. Photo: Charles Eames. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 06937. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 2
Interior of Isamu Noguchi’s Kita Kamakura studio, with Akari 9A and 14A, c. 1950s. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 03247. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 3
Installation view, “Isamu Noguchi Exhibition,” Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, September 23–October 19, 1952. Photo: Isamu Noguchi. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 05500. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 4
Installation view, “Isamu Noguchi Exhibition,” Chuo Koron Gallery, Tokyo, August 2–7, 1954. The Noguchi Museum Archives, 07129. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 5
Akari Lamps by Isamu Noguchi promotional sheet, c. 1952. The Noguchi Museum Archives, LBD_50S_025_005. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 6
Akari Lamps by Isamu Noguchi promotional sheet, c. 1954. The Noguchi Museum Archives, AKA_PRI_001_003. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 7
Isamu Noguchi, “Japanese Akari Lamps,” Craft Horizons, October 1954, 17–18. The Noguchi Museum Archives, BM_JOU_0578_1954. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 8
Isamu Noguchi, “Japanese Akari Lamps,” Craft Horizons, October 1954, 17–18. The Noguchi Museum Archives, BM_JOU_0578_1954. ©INFGM / ARS
Fig. 9
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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