Death (Lynched Figure)

Mediums: monel, steel, wood, and rope.
Location: The Isamu Noguchi Foundation (New York, the USA).

The author was inspired by the newspaper photograph of George Hughes, lynched in Texas in 1930. With the help of a figure hanging on a rope writhing in agony, Noguchi expressed his protest against the kind of reprisal against a man which was still in the USA at that time. Despite the opinion of some critics who questioned the Japanese’s right to protest against American mores, the work was positively reviewed by the art community. Its powerful energy and unusual presentation made Isamu Noguchi known as one of the most prominent representatives of American abstract sculpture.