ATLANTA, GA.- Although Isamu Noguchi declared in 1949, “I am not a designer,” the internationally acclaimed artist’s work exemplifies the broadest definition of design, including sculpture, furniture, lighting, playgrounds, landscapes and theatrical sets. In spring 2026, the High Museum of Art debuts “Isamu Noguchi: ‘I am not a designer’” (April 10-Aug. 2, 2026), the artist’s first design retrospective in nearly 25 years, featuring many never exhibited and rarely seen works spanning all facets of his creative output. After the exhibition closes in Atlanta, it will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts (Sept. 19, 2026-Jan. 3, 2027), and the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York (Feb. 13-June 6, 2027).

Noguchi (American, 1904-1988) is widely regarded as one of the 20th century’s most accomplished and renowned artists and known for his innovative sculptures, public art and designs. Born in Los Angeles to a Japanese poet father and an American writer mother, Noguchi spent parts of his youth in both Japan and the United States, a bicultural upbringing that deeply influenced his aesthetic. Throughout his career, he deeply engaged with the role of art in public life, creating plazas, playgrounds, gardens and memorials that harmonize art, architecture and nature. His industrial and commercial designs, including famed Herman Miller furniture and “Akari” light fixtures, continue to stand out among the most well known and celebrated in the field.

“The High has a long and unique history with Noguchi, having sponsored what became his only playground built in the United States during his lifetime: ‘Playscapes,’ which opened in 1976. Located in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, just a few minutes’ walk from the museum, that project has been beloved by the city’s residents over the past 50 years,” said the High’s Director Rand Suffolk. “This touring exhibition is an incredible opportunity to bring so many of his rare and important works together and to share them with Atlantans, who have directly benefited from his community-oriented design for decades.”

Creating art with civic purpose was of central importance for Noguchi, who over the course of his career blended the aesthetic and utilitarian to address the social concerns of the day. This exhibition seeks to reposition his design practice, sometimes considered ancillary to his “real” work, to reinforce that it was not merely a backdrop for his sculpture. The diverse, interactive presentation explores works that embrace function to understand Noguchi as a multinational, interdisciplinary designer who shaped a more open, inclusive world.

Cocurated by the High’s Curator of Decorative Arts and Design Monica Obniski and independent curator and sculpture scholar Marin R. Sullivan, the exhibition is grounded in an interdisciplinary approach — Noguchi’s preferred mode of working — and will feature nearly 200 objects from an international array of institutional and private lenders. Highlights include sculptural models of potential and unrealized designs, including “Play Mountain” (1933), tables designed with manufacturers including Knoll and Herman Miller, and a model of a house Noguchi designed in collaboration with architect Kazumi Adachi. The exhibition also features large-scale installations, notably the spectacular stage set for choreographer Martha Graham’s very rarely performed “Seraphic Dialogue” (1955) and the interactive “Play Sculpture” (designed ca. 1966-1976), one of Noguchi’s pieces of play equipment. The exhibition’s accompanying 383-page catalogue, published by Rizzoli Electa in association with the High and edited by Obniski and Sullivan, will feature expansive, original research on Noguchi’s life and career by an international contingent of scholars and curators.

“Today we think about design as expansively as Noguchi thought about sculpture during his lifetime — or put another way, what Noguchi broadly classified as sculpture is something far closer to what we now understand as design,” said Obniski. “By exploring Noguchi’s work holistically, but intentionally from a design perspective, this exhibition offers a revisionist history that more fully accounts for the diversity of his projects and the crucial role collaboration played across this practice.”

Sullivan added, “Noguchi’s significant contributions to 20th-century sculpture have long been heralded. This exhibition, however, not only expands our understanding of how important design was to Noguchi throughout his career but also demonstrates how generative and interconnected the two disciplines were to his practice as a whole.”