Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America
September 20, 2026 – January 10, 2027
Six Japanese American artists shaped the look of modern America.
Leo Amino. In-Between (detail), 1962. © Leo Amino Estate. Courtesy of the estate and David Zwirner
Adults $30; seniors $28 (tickets good for 2 days); students $5; members free
About the Exhibition
At first glance, something familiar. Look again.
You’ve seen these forms before—a paper lantern, a walnut table, a wire form suspended in light. What you perhaps haven’t seen is who made them, or what shaped them.
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), sculptor and designer • George Nakashima (1905–1990), architect and furniture designer • Leo Amino (1911–1989), sculptor • S. Neil Fujita (1921–2010), graphic designer • Kay Sekimachi (b. 1926), fiber artist • Ruth Asawa (1926–2013), sculptor
Noguchi, Nakashima, and Amino had started to build their practices before December 1941, when the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack brought the United States into World War II, and Japanese and Japanese American families were sent to incarceration camps—a seismic rupture that redirected these artists’ work and careers. Fujita was 20 at the time, and Sekimachi and Asawa just teenagers; some of their earliest art training happened inside the camps. Each of the six followed a different path from there.
The works they created weren’t just gallery objects. They were album covers stacked by the record player, a chair at the dinner table, a lamp lighting the corner of a living room. You might not own the originals. You’ve likely lived with their influence anyway: this is the design language that shaped how a generation furnished, decorated, and saw modern America.
Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America is the first exhibition of its kind to unite the work of these six iconic artists, and to consider the question at the heart of the show: what shaped these objects, and who shaped America because of it?
On view September 20, 2026–January 10, 2027, in the Roberts Gallery.
Leo Amino. In-Between, 1962. Wood and acrylic. © Leo Amino Estate. Courtesy of the estate and David Zwirner
Related Programs
Member Previews
Thursday, September 17–Saturday, September 19, 10am – 5pm
Free
Members are invited to view Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America before the exhibition’s public opening.
Curators in Conversation
Sunday, September 20, 1pm
Join us for an engaging conversation about our newest exhibition with Cindy Kang, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Barnes, and Drexel University associate professor Linda Kim.
Members-Only Exhibition Tours
Thursdays, September 24–January 7, 2 – 3pm
Members are invited to exclusive tours of Noguchi to Asawa.
Members-Only Online Exhibition Tours
Wednesdays, September 30, October 14, November 4 & December 2; 2 – 3pm
Members are invited to exclusive online tours of Noguchi to Asawa. Registration is required.
Exhibition Tours
Thursday–Monday, 1pm, beginning October 1
Learn more about the six artists and their approaches to life and work in the aftermath of incarceration. This one-hour tour begins with familiar objects and reveals the layered histories behind them, offering a broader story of American modernism—one told through the objects, forms, and ideas that continue to influence how we live with art today.
First Friday
October 2, November 6, December 4; 6 – 9pm
Enjoy an evening of art, live music, and light fare on the first Friday of each month, with access to Noguchi to Asawa and the Barnes collection. November’s program welcomes back the Philadelphia Asian American Film Foundation (PAAFF) to screen films during their annual festival.
PECO Free First Sunday Family Day
October 4, November 1, December 6, January 3; 10am – 5pm
On the first Sunday of every month, the Barnes partners with PECO to offer a free day of family fun. The event includes access to the collection and Noguchi to Asawa along with art making, educational activities, and performances by groups such as the Khmer Performing Arts and Culture (KPAC) and Hua Hua Zhang.
Barnes Cinema
October 10, November 14, December 12, January 9; 1 – 4pm
Experience feature-length and short films followed by a lecture and discussion with filmmakers and scholars, with curated programs presented by Sky Hopinka, Rob Buscher, and Rea Tajiri.
Exhibition Seminar: Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America
Tuesday, October 20, or Tuesday, November 17, 11am – 1pm or 3 – 5pm
Explore the contributions of Japanese American artists and designers through guided discussion in the exhibition galleries with instructor Joseph Tokumasu Field, a contributor to the Isamu Noguchi catalogue raisonné and former educator at the Noguchi Museum.
Sponsors
Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America is sponsored by:
Major support is provided by Denise Littlefield Sobel and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Generous support is provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, and Lenore G. Tawney Foundation. Additional support is provided by Ilana Dean of the Beryl and Morris Dean Family Fund, Michael and Sandra Dean, Margaret C. Hallenbeck, Margaret Harris and Phil Straus, Barbara Podell and Mark Singer, and Stephanie Simmerman.
Ongoing funding for exhibitions comes from the Christine and Michael Angelakis Exhibition Fund, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Exhibition Fund, Lois and Julian Brodsky Exhibition Fund, Elaine W. Camarda and A. Morris Williams, Jr. Exhibition Fund, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Christine and George Henisee Exhibition Fund, Aileen and Brian Roberts Exhibition Fund, and Tom and Margaret Lehr Whitford Exhibition Fund.
The exhibition publication is supported by the Lois and Julian Brodsky Publications Fund and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.
In addition, we thank annual contributors to the Barnes Foundation Exhibition Fund for supporting all exhibitions:
Joan Carter and John Aglialoro, Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, Julia and David Fleischner, Victoria McNeil Le Vine, Leigh and John Middleton, Jeanette and Joe Neubauer, and Aileen and Brian Roberts
John Alchin and Hal Marryatt, N. Judith Broudy, Julie Jensen Bryan, Emily and Michael Cavanagh, Marianne N. Dean, Eugene and Michelle Dubay, Adele Aron Greenspun, Penelope P. Harris, Jones & Wajahat Family, Lisa D. Kabnick and John H. McFadden, Victor F. Keen and Jeanne Ruddy, Marguerite Lenfest, Maribeth and Steven Lerner, Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Cathy and Henry Nassau, The Park Family, Wendy and Mark Rayfield, Anne and Bruce Robinson, Adele K. Schaeffer, Katie and Tony Schaeffer, Donna and Jerry Slipakoff, Dr. and Mrs. Eugene E. Stark, Joan F. Thalheimer, Bruce and Robbi Toll, van Beuren Charitable Foundation, and Randi Zemsky and Bob Lane.
Go Further
Curators in Conversation: Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America
Join us for an engaging conversation about our newest exhibition on its opening day.
2026 Barnes Art Ball
Join us for our yearly celebration of art, community, and philanthropy.
Exhibition Seminar: Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America
Explore the contributions of Japanese American artists and designers through guided discussion in the exhibition galleries. Instructor: Joseph Tokumasu Field