Koibito (Lovers)

This sculpture was created by joining two vertically elongated, rod-like forms of clay side by side and firing them. Near the top, indentations evoke simplified eyes and a mouth; below, stylized arms curve gently as if to enfold one another. As the title Koibito (“Lovers”) indicates, the work portrays a pair of lovers locked in an intimate embrace.
Isamu Noguchi, one of the foremost sculptors of the twentieth century, was born to the Japanese poet Noguchi Yonejirō and the American writer Léonie Gilmour.  In 1975, the year this work was produced, he visited Seto in Aichi Prefecture, where he created a number of terracotta sculptures.