Out of Adversity, a Japanese American Design Vision

The galleries dedicated to temporary exhibitions at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia are modest in scale. But they’ve played host to significant and, at times, revelatory arrays of art. “Berthe Morisot: Woman Impressionist,” seen at the Foundation during the fall and winter of 2018-2019, was a game changer in terms of her standing. Equally eye-opening was an eponymously titled retrospective dedicated to Albert C. Barnes’ friend and advisor, the painter William Glackens. Subsequent ventures highlighting Suzanne Valadon, Amedeo Modigliani, and Marie Laurencin weren’t as earth-shaking, though “Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets” came close.As does “Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America.” A Barnes curator, Cindy Kang, has organized one of the most exquisitely appointed exhibitions in recent memory. Designed by an architect, Stephanie Goto, the installation enlivens the proceedings with a zigzag superstructure that is surprisingly well-suited to objects of unerring and often evanescent delicacy. In terms of numbers, there’s not a lot on view; in terms of presence, the objects engage space with a finely honed gravitas. Ms. Goto’s focus on material and tempo is in direct commiseration with the art on view.‘My Arizona,’by Isamu Noguchi, 1943. Via the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and MuseumShould “commiseration” seem an odd word in this context, take into account that the entry point of “Designing Postwar America” is an evocation of the internment camps to which four of the featured artists, each of whom was an American of Japanese descent, were consigned following the strike on Pearl Harbor. The walls are layered in sheets of black paper held in place with roofing nails, all of which is laid out with an exacting sense of material integrity and structural interval. The attending pieces testify to the frustrations of the internees as well as their resilience. The efforts are marked by muscle, bone, and, in the case of Isamu Noguchi, a googly-eyed futurism.Noguchi is likely the best known of the six artists featured in “Designing Postwar America,” though the biomorphic effigies of sculptor Ruth Asawa have gained significant interest in recent years, particularly with a recent retrospective jointly organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Modern Art. Other figures included are George Nakashima, Leo Amino, S. Neil Fujita, and Kay Sekimachi. That these latter names may not ring bells doesn’t mean that their efforts aren’t worth attending to or that you won’t recognize their achievements. If anything, Ms. Kang underscores their ubiquity in the body politic.‘Untitled’ by Ruth Asawa, 1954. Via private collectionFans of jazz, literature and salty snack foods have come across Fujita’s work as a graphic designer. A close observer of Modernist painting, Fujita culled motifs gleaned from Cubism and Surrealism to design album covers, the most recognizable of which is the bumptious array of shapes that heralded Dave Brubeck’s seminal LP, “Time Out.” Fujita was also responsible for the puppeteer’s hand and strings on the book jacket of Mario Puzo’s “The Godfather” and the packaging for Bugles, the corn snacks of my youth that an attendee of the Barnes show assured me were still available at the local grocer.Nakashima was an architect and woodworker with a deeply ingrained sense of social responsibility as well as the skills to pay the bills — especially when New York state governor Nelson Rockefeller requisitioned the artist to design all the furniture for his upstate manor. The examples featured at the Barnes are as unostentatious as a Shaker side table, as functional as a Danish wishbone chair, and as economical as a bumper sticker. A floor lamp crafted from walnut, holly, oak and fiberglass achieves a sleek brand of poetry.Ms. Sekimachi’s nylon monofilament weavings evince an abiding fascination with transparency and light also apparent in the dense plinths made of polyester resin by Leo Amino. How these two artists transform synthetic materials that hearken to natural phenomena says much about the potentiality of vision and the uncanny nature of art. But, then, that’s true of the whole of “Designing Postwar America.” It’s an exhibition that is an encomium not only to the human spirit, but also to the absorbent, if sometimes halting, nature of American society.

Out of Adversity, a Japanese American Design Vision

Out of Adversity, a Japanese American Design Vision

More from the New York Sun

‘Beyond Irresponsible’: Republicans on Capitol Hill Denounce Trump’s Decision To Waive Russia Sanctions

The Tesla Roadster Can Really Fly, But It’s Not a Real Car Yet

Blakeman Hopes To Cut a Path to Albany Through Minority and Jewish Voters, and Hochul’s Unpopular Policies

With 20,000 Names Struck From Michigan’s Sex Offender List, Victim Rights Advocates Wonder What Good It Is

Sam Bankman-Fried Protected by Magna Carta From Being Fined Billions, a New Brief Argues to Supreme Court

A $45 Million Gift Leaves Malala Fund Flush but Critics Question Where the Money Goes

Police Shoot 10,000 Dogs a Year; Whether Anyone is Held Accountable Depends on the State

Christa Pike Death Penalty Fiasco Calls Attention to High Cost of Executions in America

More from the New York Sun

‘Beyond Irresponsible’: Republicans on Capitol Hill Denounce Trump’s Decision To Waive Russia Sanctions

The Tesla Roadster Can Really Fly, But It’s Not a Real Car Yet

Blakeman Hopes To Cut a Path to Albany Through Minority and Jewish Voters, and Hochul’s Unpopular Policies

With 20,000 Names Struck From Michigan’s Sex Offender List, Victim Rights Advocates Wonder What Good It Is

Sam Bankman-Fried Protected by Magna Carta From Being Fined Billions, a New Brief Argues to Supreme Court

A $45 Million Gift Leaves Malala Fund Flush but Critics Question Where the Money Goes

Police Shoot 10,000 Dogs a Year; Whether Anyone is Held Accountable Depends on the State

Christa Pike Death Penalty Fiasco Calls Attention to High Cost of Executions in America