For 25 years the High Museum sported a handsome Alexander Calder sculpture on its front lawn, until the artwork was called back from its long-term loan by the Calder Foundation.
This week the High will receive the work of another whimsical modern master, when a playscape by sculptor Isamu Noguchi is installed near that place of honor.
Noguchi’s work, “Octetra,” is based on the tetrahedron, and the idea, from Buckminster Fuller, that the four-sided figure is the primary building block of the universe.
Noguchi is a well-known sculptor and protege of Brancusi. Another playscape by Noguchi has been entertaining children in Piedmont Park since 1976, and in 2009 received a $350,000 restoration.
“Octetra” is from an “open edition,” meaning several versions of the same sculpture have been fabricated and are on display in Spoleto, Italy; Bentonville, Ark., and in Takamatsu, Japan.
Nearly 8 feet tall and brightly colored, the sculpture is being fabricated by Metromont in Hiram, Ga., and will be installed Thursday, May 12, according to High spokesperson Marci Tate. It is also a loaned sculpture, and will stay on the front lawn for year, before it moves across the street to adorn the John Wieland residential development, One Museum Place.
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