Reclining Nude

1929

First one-man show

His abstract sculptures made in Paris are shown in his first one-man show at the Eugene Schoen Gallery. After none of his works sells, Noguchi abandons abstract art altogether for portrait busts in order to support himself, and soon accepts commissions from wealthy and celebrity clients.

February 1929

Returns to New York and meets Buckminster Fuller

He leaves for New York City. On Brâncuși’s recommendation he visits Romany Marie’s café in Greenwich Village and meets Buckminster Fuller, with whom he collaborates on several projects, including the modeling of Fuller’s Dymaxion car.

1930

To Beijing, to Qi Baishi

He leaves for Paris in April 1930 and two months later receives his visa to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway; he opts to visit Japan first rather than India, but after learning that his father Yone does not want him to visit using his surname, a shaken Noguchi departs for Beijing instead. In China he studies brush painting with Qi Baishi, staying for six months before sailing for Japan.

1930

Exhibition of portrait busts

A show of several busts, including those of Martha Graham and Buckminster Fuller, garners positive reviews; after less than a year of portrait sculpture Noguchi has earned enough to continue his trip to Asia.

c. 1931

Kyoto: pottery, Zen gardens and haniwa

He arrives in Kyoto to study pottery with Uno Jinmatsu. There he takes note of local Zen gardens and haniwa, clay funerary figures of the Kofun period that inspire his terracotta The Queen.

February 1932

Exhibition of his Asian work

Back in New York amid the Great Depression, he shows his newly produced sculptures and brush paintings from Asia: the exhibition begins in February 1932 and tours Chicago, the west coast and Honolulu. Very few works sell, but Noguchi regarded it as his “most successful”; his next attempt to break into abstract art, a large streamlined figure of the dancer Ruth Page entitled Miss Expanding Universe, is poorly received.