Originally Isamu Gilmour, his mother was an Irish-American editor and writer, and his father a Japanese poet. Young Isamu attended grammar school in Japan, also learning carpentry from a traditional Japanese craftsman. Although he returned to the United States in 1918 and would mainly reside there for the rest of his life, his cross-cultural childhood had a marked impact on his later work.

In 1922, he entered Columbia University as a medical student; at the same time, he had enrolled in an evening sculpture class at the Leonardo DaVinci Art School. Sculpture won. He dropped out of medical school and resolved to pursue a career as an artist. In 1927, his brilliant work secured him a Guggenheim Fellowship for travel to Paris and the east. In Paris, he met Constantin Brancusi and became the great sculptor's assistant. After returning to New York, Noguchi supported himself as a portrait sculptor, and as a set designer for Martha Graham. Page 2 >