Exhibits & Events

Philadelphia, PA, April 27, 2026—In fall 2026, the Barnes Foundation will present Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America, a groundbreaking exhibition that reconsiders 20th-century art and design within the context of Japanese and Japanese American incarceration during World War II and the broader history of Asian America. This exhibition will be the first to explore how this tumultuous era of Japanese American history formed a foundation for modern art and design in the United States. Conceived and curated by Cindy Kang, curator at the Barnes, this exhibition is on view in the Roberts Gallery from September 20, 2026, through January 10, 2027.

Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America is sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal. Major support is provided by Denise Littlefield Sobel and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, with additional support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

Beauty and craftsmanship are hallmarks of midcentury Japanese American art and design. From Isamu Noguchi’s iconic furniture to Ruth Asawa’s inventive wire sculptures, Japanese American artists transformed the aesthetic landscape of postwar America. Yet beneath this artistry lies a shared history marked by forced relocation and incarceration during World War II. Confronting this difficult past, Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America offers a recontextualization of the work of influential 20th-century artists and designers through the lens of 1940s Japanese American incarceration.

“We are proud to present Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America, an exhibition celebrating the work of six renowned Japanese American artists and designers and their lasting impact on US culture,” says Thom Collins, Neubauer Family Executive Director and President of the Barnes. “This poignant exhibition is the third in our series of exhibitions and installations this year, all designed to offer a powerful exploration of the complex and multifaceted American experience.”

The exhibition chronologically and thematically juxtaposes sculpture and designs by two generations of artists affected by forced relocation and incarceration in the United States, including sculptor and designer Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988), architect and furniture designer George Nakashima (1905–1990), sculptor Leo Amino (b. Taiwan, 1911–1989), graphic designer S. Neil Fujita (b. Territory of Hawaii, 1921–2010), fiber artist and weaver Kay Sekimachi (b. 1926), and sculptor Ruth Asawa (1926–2013). The elder generation (Noguchi, Nakashima, and Amino) all established their practices before Japanese and Japanese Americans were sent to camps in February 1942, changing the direction of their careers. The younger generation (Fujita, Sekimachi, and Asawa) experienced their early artistic training in the camps through impromptu schools organized by incarcerated artists.

As these six artists reestablished their lives in the postwar era, they turned to creating domestic objects or small-scale works in dialogue with craft and design. Working during the precarious period of Japanese resettlement across the United States, these artists contended with emergent racial pressures and stereotypes that provide a relevant context for understanding their careers and artistic choices. The exhibition considers their work, materials, and techniques in the context of postwar Japanese American experiences, including racialization. By featuring objects that were part of midcentury American life—from coffee tables to album covers, chairs to wallpaper designs—the exhibition demonstrates that Asian American history is not separate from mainstream America but rather part of people’s daily lives through these objects in their homes.

“From Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures to Asawa’s suspended wire lobes, the contributions of mid-20th-century Japanese American artists helped define the look and feel of modern America,” says Cindy Kang. “The exhibition will examine the artists’ collective experiences and their understudied impact on American design.”