The Sculpture That Set Isamu Noguchi's Auction Record

Isamu Noguchi's The Family (1956) sold for $12.28m at Sotheby's in New York on May 16, 2023. It was backed by a guarantee. The granite work had not been traded before.

The Japanese-American artist was commissioned in 1956 by Modernist architect Gordon Bunshaft to create a monolithic group for the headquarters of the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company. Noguchi also landscaped the complex.

He created one of his masterworks, which combines elements of Surrealism, Japanese minimalism and a nod to Stonehenge, using Stony Creek granite from a quarry in Connecticut near the office complex.

Noguchi and Bunshaft, who was the chief architect of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), worked together on several high-profile projects in the 1950s and 60s. They began their collaboration on a sculptural garden for SOM's landmark Lever House in New York.

While the Noguchi-designed plaza was never built, elements of the Lever House's "lost" garden were realized elsewhere, such as The Family of three granite works, the largest of which stands nearly five metres tall.

The sale beat Noguchi's previous auction record by $7.3m, a 125% rise. His previous record was set by Olmec & Muse (1985), which sold for $4.98m at Christie's on November 15, 2017.