Masatochi Izumi (Izumi Masatochi) (b. 1938), was born into a family of stonemasons who have practiced stonemasonry in Southern Japan for four successive generations. In 1964, Izumi established the “Stone Atelier” in the Kagawa Prefecture of Japan with several other like-minded sculptors and stonemasons to explore new ways of using stone. Around the same time, he befriended the famed sculptor Isamu Noguchi through a mutual acquaintance. An immediate bond formed between the two resulting in their continued collaboration until Noguchi’s sudden death in 1988. Izumi’s expertise in stone gelled with Noguchi’s idiosyncratic ideas on form and space. When Noguchi built his private museum in New York in 1985, Izumi supervised the installation of sculptures being brought over from Mure and the lay out of the garden. When Noguchi died before the completion of two of his famed outdoor sculptures, (The Wall at the Takamatsu Airport and Black Slide Mantra) Izumi posthumously finished both on his behalf. This memoir, written and photographed by Isamu Noguchi’s younger brother, Michio Noguchi, is a visual catalog of the life, work, and process of an unsung master.

Hardcover, 270 Pages

Japan, 1994, Yushi-Sha

English,Japanese