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BIOMORPJ.lISM AND AMERICAN DESIGN

Ghislaine Wood

ewYork

The generic use of biomorphic forms is one of the most recognizable aspects of early post-war art and design. From the late 1930S organic shapes increasingly came to dominate the vocabulary of artists and designers, and by the early 1950S 'free form' was

a common visual language applied to all fields of practice, from painting and sculpture to commercial design and architecture.

The prevalence of biomorphic imagery can be attributed to several factors. It clearly arose from different sources and carried with it

a plurality of meaning that, in part, accounts for its widespread appeal.' For many, irregular organic shapes conveyed notions of the primitive and the archaic, while for others they represented

the height of progressive modernism - a modernism articulated

by the conception of nature as a model for progress. Biomorphic imagery could at once suggest a benign image of the modern world. while also conveying the anxieties and fear of an over-mechanized nuclear age. While the debates surrounding organic models for design had their roots in late nineteenth - century discourses, nature also gained a new range of meanings in the nuclear age. However, to grasp fully biornorphism's relation to post-war design, an understanding of its genesis in pre-war Surrealism is vital. Its predominance as a design idiom occurred precisely because of its associations with the subjective, the sensual, the psychological and the unconscious - and although it provided the stylistic stepping

1 Alexander Calder, nutted. Wood, s heel

etal, wire and paint. 1945,

~Ider Foundation,

stone into abstraction, its relevance for a new generation of American artists and designers arose largely because of the new currency

of symbols and meanings that it provided. Biomorphism could not escape its Surrealist birth pool.

It might be argued that disentangling the Surrealist strand of development within bio morphism is a fruitless task. The cross-currents an d exchange of ideas and forms between different individuals and groups, of often markedly different persuasions, was complex. By the late 1930s, for instance, an ascribed biomorphic imagery of rationalist Modernism was widespread. Several architects and designers, some ofwhom had been adherents to the International Style, developed

a type of organic Modernism which, although

not overtly influenced by Surrealism, certainly explored ideas ofthe emotional and the psychological as a means of humanizing the technological." The Finnish architect Alvar Aalto used curvilinear forms to create a humanistic rationalism. The ceiling of the auditorium of

the Viipuri Library (19~7~35) used an undulating pattern of wooden slates, while his curvilinear moulded plywood furniture became archetypes of this new sensual Modernism. Aalto's influence on the development ofbiomorphism in the United States is undeniable. His exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1938 had an important impact on contemporary designers and was rei n ro reed the I'ollowingyear by his display for the Finnish pavilion at the New York World's Fair, which also utilized an undulating design.langua'ge. Organic Modernist forms were developed by architects such as Eero Saarinen and the Eameses, among others, and in 1940 were institutionally endorsed by a competition at the Museum of ModernArt to promote organic design in the home.

The main impetus [or a shift towards btomorphtcm.tn both the fields of fine art and dooi~n oloorlj- oumo from SUHoali6m and built ~rl1dLlll11y lhrough the: 11)60;0;. The: Mu;o;e:ulIl of MocternAl"fs C.:uNsm andAbstraotArt exhibition

82

of 1936 established the term and outlined its chara cteristi cs: 'Curvilinear rather than recti - linear, decorative rather than structural and romantic rather than classical i.n its exaltation of the mystical, the spontaneous and the irrational.':' This was followed in December by the Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism exhibition, which was instrumental in establishing a new currency of form. The show included several wood reliefs and marble concretions by Hans (Jean) Arp, the artist most clearly associated with biomorphic form, but also provided a significant body of work by Joan Mir6, Andre Masson, Salvador Dali and Henry Moore among others, which established biomorphic and organic forms

as a clear aesthetic strand within Surrealism. Several works (besides those ofArp) explored biomorphism in the round. The work of the American sculptor Alexander Calder was to have a particular impact and reinforced the growing association between biomorphic shapes and three-dimensional form (5.1).

Calder had been exhibited in New York by Julien Levy in May 193~, but the inclusion of Praying Mantis and Object with yellow backgrQund in the Museum of Modern Art exhibition positioned his work of the mid -19 3 os in relation to Surrealism and provided an insight into his preoccupations with the found object, the primitive and the irrational. Although on the periphery of Surrealism, Calder did exhibit in several Surrealist exhibitions, including the Surrealist object exhibition in 1936, and in 1941 Andre Breton equated his work with 'the evol utio ns ofthe celestial bodies, the trembling ofleaves on their branches. the memory of caresses'. 4 The association of organic forms with the primitive was, for Calder, a central concern. His jewellery designs explored ideas

of the primitive, applying them to hath forms and materials. Some of his most extraordinary pieces exploit the associations of materials such a;:l bonc, wood and stone (.5.2, and 5.3). Evoking notions of archaic adornment and the techniques, materials and rituals of Neolithic man, these

Surreal Things

5.2 Alexander Calder. necklace. Bone, string and wire. c.1945. Courtesy of the Calder Foundation. New York

5.3 AlexandErc... nEcklace. Wooc ... leather. c.1940. :.c. of the Calder =;:, New York

1111111\, Pllillitive, suggesting' the 1IIIIIIIJlIi illid ritual. Calder's

1.11 Iy HI'I'II in the early 1940s, 111111111111111 llio Willard Gallery in New 1,"1,1 11I11I'ing show of his mobiles 111\ III 11,,'lJt1itedStates in 1941.

,,~II 1111 KI'OUP and solo exhibitions at 1111111 MwlornArt, and the galleries I, \ Ilid Pierre Matisse, did much to

I II" 11"'['pl ion of Surrealist hiomorphism Ih. I'I;\OH, itwas the influx of European III , 1111\ I h ' war that precipitated a con-

III I III' klens and practices that pushed it II" I,,,. Most ofthe leaders of the Surrealist "I' III Iv('d in New York between 1939 and

1941, but it was the younger generation who spawned a new creative energy. Much of the activity coalesced around the charismatic

figure of Roberto Matta Echaurren. The Chilean artist/architect had worked in the studio of

Le Corbusier while in Paris, and his interest in time and space and psychic automatism proved an influential combination. In 1938, at the behest of Breton, Matta had created a design

for an apartment, which was published in the article 'Mathematique sensible - Architecture du temps' inMinotaure (5.4). Taking a geometric structure as a frame, Matta subverted its inherent rationalism by creating a language of curvilinear organic fauns. In this surreal apart-

The Shapes of Life

ment, a large bone-like column was christened 'ronique psychologique', while Matta described the need for 'walls like wet cloth which can adopt our psychological fears', 5 He continued his preoccupation with psychological 'architecture' in a series of paintings that developed the idea of rupturing two - dimensional space.

Matta's arrival in New York in 1939 affected several American artists. Arshile Gorky, William Baziores, Gerome Kamrowski, Hobert Mctherwell and Jackson Poll 0 ek were a.ll influenced by Matta's ch.arnp ioning (If automatic techniques, and several, of theseartist s attended le ctures given by Matta's clo s e friend. the British Surrealist Gordon Onslow P(jJd, ttl the New Schoolfor

83

Social Research in New York in 1941. Matta's show at the Julien Levy Gallery in May 1940 also excited much interest, with works with titles such as Psyclwlogical rrwrplwlogy. Biomorphism was rapidly adopted among the artists in this group, although their interest in Surrealism and in its enthusiasm for science and thc imagery of nature was not limited to purely organic form. Gerome Kamrowski emulated

the practice of Max Ernst and others in reusing botanical engravings. His collaged boxes were kinds of Surrealist object that also reflected the influence ofjoseph Cornell (5.5). However, biomorphism became for a few years the style of an American Modernism motivated by intense subjectivity.

Ofthe designers who developed an

organic form language in the 19308. few

WQI'Q ne i!10CIl to the movement ao Frederick Kiesler. An Austrian by birth, Kiesler had llt"t'n :l memhsr nf The Dutuh .ivanr -gnrde gl"OUp De ~t1JIJ whoec ,l'igorov,a theoretical pl'il'lciplM provided a methodology-that formed tho foundation of his own later thc:oricB of Correalism and Biotechnique. Although Kiesler

rejected the aesthetic solutions of De Stijl, and particularly the adherence to geometry, he did adopt a thoroughly theorized approach to the designed environment and a sensitivity to

the relationship between man, object and his surroundings that was to form the basis of

his concepts.

Althougb much of Kiesler's writing is marked by Utopian discourses, he could also be a pragmatic theorist, able to apply ideas

to practice. Gauging the SignifIcance of the increasing commercial appropriation of avant-garde art, he wrote Contemporary Art Applied to the Store and Its Display, which was published in 1930.

In this response to the recent and 'sudden influence of contemporary art' and the necessity to 'control its real value', Kiesler established his aims in the introduction:

in the following chapters we shall discuss <:Iom(; of the most typical examples of contemporary ,IIi in order to learn from them their basic meaning and their value for retailing and industryv.. It may seem a profanation to

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5.4 Roberto Matta !=.chaurren, 'lvlathematlque sensible - Architecture

du temps'. Published in Minotaure, no.ll, 1938. NAL,50.Q5.0020

those to whom 'Art' is something outside life ... but careful consideration will show that the 'applied' arts are the link between daily life and the nne arts. G

He went on to analyse paintings by Giorgio de Chirico, drawing attention to the illogical juxtaposition of objects, which, he argued, should

be emulated 'to create an atmosphere of tension between several pieces of merchandise exposed within the frame ofthe show window'. Interestingly, Kiesler identified the power of appropriating Surrealist narratives of the object for the purposes of advertising - something that was to become commonplace in commercial practice from the mid -193os.

Kiesler's inclination towards an organic model developed during the 19308, although

it often vied with the commercial imperatives. of machine-age design." Of an unrealized project for a theatre in 1931 he wrote, 'here were plans for a building that looked like an

egg, not like the customary box. It wasn't square, it wasn't in steel, it wasn't in glass, it wasn't in aluminum. It was absolutely outside the mode

of Inte;'national Style." It was followed by a series of organic designs from the mid -1930S that developed in tandem with his theory of Design-

Correlation. His interlocking aluminium nesting tables of 1935 combined biomorphic forms with machine-age production and materials (5.6).

Two theatre productions also reveal his increasing interest in natural imagery and form . (5.7). In the production of Helen Retires for the [uilliard School in 1934 he created

a series of abstracted Surrealist shapes and masks for the costumes and sets, whi.le for the Metropolitan Opera's production of In the Pasha'8 Carden in 1935 he combined

the use of biornorphic forms and the imagery

of microphotography, creating a continuous interplay of projected images of stellar, plant and marine life that animated the stage.

Kiesler's main treatise 'On Correalism and Biotechnique' was published in the Architectural Record in September 1939 and was the product of the Laboratory of Design - Correlation, which he had established at Columbia School of Architecture in 1937. 'J The article laid out the principles of Correalism, stating: 'The term "Correalism" expresses the dynamics of continual interaction between man and his

~

natural and technological environment."? Pitched as a response to 'the perennial crisis in architectural history due to the ... lack of a science dealing with the fundamental laws

66

Surreal Things

5.6 Frederick Kiesler. Nesting Coffee Table. Cast- aluminium, 1935/8. Museum of Modern Art. New York

5.7 Frederick Kiesler, Theatre design for In the Pasha's Garden. Published in Architectural Review. March 1937.

NAL, PP.24.~-F

"I, II HI'I'1i1 1.0 govern man as a nucleus offol'ces', , "'" ,iI IMII'I proposed that reality was formed

It\ I iI'I'il's of forces that were both visible and

l'he visible result of these activating forces

1M usually called matter and constitutes

what is commonly understood as reality.

The reason for this superficial interpretation of reality lies in the limitation of man's senses in relation to the forces of the universe.

For matter is only one of the expressions of Reality, and not reality itself."

Kiesler's conception of reality - which incorp-. orated the physical, psychological and metaphysical - bears obvious parallels with Surrealist perceptions of reality. And, like the Surrealists, Kiesler used a range of ideas gleaned from different fields of study to inform this concept.

The commission for the design of Peggy Guggenheim's new gallery, 'Art of This Century',

The Shapes of Life

on \Vest 57th Street in New York enabled. Kiesler to apply many of the ideas that he developed on Design -Correlation. The gaUery consisted of three distinct spaces, dedicated to abstract art, kinetic art and Surrealism, Forthe Surrealist gaUery,he installed curving gum -wood sections to create a tunnel or cave-Like space (5.8). The paintings, removed fro m their frames, projected from ihe walls DO adjustable arms and were alternately lit ar three-and-abalf-second intervals. Per.odie ally .he lights would go off,

This Century'. paperboard. 19_ Foundation. Vie

plungingthe gallery into darkness while the sound of a train disrupted the viewers' senses. Kiesler described the alternating effect of

the lighting: 'Its dynamic it pulsates like your blood. Ordinary museum lighting makes

a painting dead'," and corporeal imagery informed other aspects of his design for the gallery. Evoking the human arms that project from walls in Jean Cocteau's film La Belle

et .La Bete, Kiesler took the arm as a starting point for the display supports of the paintings (5.9). Although the final mechanism bore little relation to the initial concept, his anthropomorphic drawings reveal how Design-Correlation utilized the body to explore forces and tensions in space.

This was also true of the furniture designed for the Art of This Century gallery. which included five seats, three of which were specially conceived wil.}1 rhr ilrlm:ip1es of Correaltsm in mind: TWO

88

Correalist Instruments and the Correalist rocker. Kiesler later described the process of designing the Instrument:

The two - seat rest form also grew from the principle of continuous tension. I took a form similar to a wave and curved in such a way as to create an object with no beginning and no end; and in the concave and convex curves, the body could rest. The rest form had no arms or legs and could be placed on its sides. It could be transformed into a chair, into a support for sculpture or painting, or into

a table or bench. '3

The Correalist 'tools', as Kiesler also referred to them, were not only early examples of ergonomics, but were designed for multi-purpose use. Inan article published in the Surrealist magazine VVV in 1943. Kiesler created a moveable di:csrr:CID that demonstrated how the tool might

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interact with its envi.ronment, and revealed a 'minimum of eighteen variables inherent in the use ofthis tool' (5.10) .'4 The instrument was arguably the most rigorously conceptualized product of Correalism.

Design -Correlation combined ideas from several fields, but one of the ideas fundamental to Kiesler's conception of the relationship between man and his environment was based on a perceived unity of idea and object in , ancient systems of belief. Whether taken directly from anthropological texts, such as Franz Boas's Primitive Art of 1927. or mediated by the Surrealist writing on non-western cultures, Kiesler's conception of reality

relied on the notion of a perceptual (rather than purely physical) world. In the article he wrote:

in the galleries of Peggy Guggenheim's 'Art of this Century,' I utilized it [Design-Correlation] again to break down the physical and mental barriers which separate people from the ali they live with, working toward a unity of vision and fact as prevailed in primitive times, when seemingly conflicting experiences existed in complete harmony, when the God and the representation of the God, the demon and the image of the demon

were equally immediate and real. '5

Elsewhere Kiesler wrote that when primitive man 'carved and painted the walls of his cave or the side of a cliff, no frames or borders cut off his works from space or life - the same space, the same life that flowed around his animals, his demons and himself'. 16 This implied collapsing of subject and object, proposed as

a means of achieving a new 'reality', was at

the heart of Surrealist theory (see Chapter a).

It is unsurprising that Kiesler should articulate this position in VVV, Breton's magazine in America.

Kiesler designed several exhibition spaces

in the 1940s, including the Sane de superstition for the Exposition internationale du surrealisme at the Maeght Gallery in 1947, which marked the Surrealists' return to Paris after the war (s.n). However, these designs never achieved the coherency of idea and form

90

..... _-----

of Art of This Century'. It was in the designs

for the 'Endless House' and related projects

that he further developed the fusion of man and environment that he sought. The organic and corporeal imagery of the Endless House recalled Tristan Tzara's demand for an intrauterine architecture in an article in Minotaure of 1933 (S·12).And, like Tzara, Kiesler utilized gender as a means of opposing rationalist Modernism. The Endless House was figured as

a maternal, nurturing architecture as opposed to the hrutalism of patriarchal Modernism:

'The "Endless" is rather sensuous, more like the female body in contrast to sharp-angled male architecture.V Its architectural language of continuous surfaces and cell-like components, which could be added or removed. served to create a flexible living space that met spiritual as well as physical needs. Kiesler conceived the

Surreal Things

flexible structure as being n C'SHIII 11111

for the physical requirements 01'1 h(, Itlll hI but also for inducing meditation:

Each and every one of the spac be separated from the totality or III!' dw ". At will, you can reunify to m '"1 VIII" III needs: the congregation of the Jam i Iy. III visitors from the outer world. . . I' a~oIlll you'll womb yourself into happy so I i III II I The 'Endless' cannot be only a home lor I II family, but must definitely make room Iliid comfort for those 'visitors' from your ow II inner world. Communion with yourself, "I

Although never realized. the Endless House

in many respects fulfilled the Surrealist desi 1'(' for an architecture of the psychological. It perfectly exemplified a central concept of Design -Correlation, that 'shape and form an:

'E>K:k Kiesler, ~ se. project e and pian.

... ash on paper, of Modern

determined by inherent life processes', and Kiesler continued to develop ideas for it until the end of his life. However, the Endless House had a limited impact on the wider world of architecture and design.

By contrast, Isamu Noguchi developed an organic form language that also crossed the boundaries of fine and applied arts and had an immediate influence on his contemporaries. Some of his most influential designs were emulated almost as soon as they were made. He made little distinction between his sculpture and design work, which included interiors, stage, product and garden design.

Noguchi's relationship with Surrealism was distant throughout much ofthe 192,OS and '3os. Although he had lived in Paris from 192,7, working in Constantine Brancusi's studio as

a stone-cutter, and formed friendships with several artists associated with the group, he did not engage with the theoretical preoccupations or aesthetics of Surrealism until the late 19305. Exhibitions in New York of the work of Arp, Dali

and particularly Alberto Giacometti from the mid -19305 undoubtedly precipitated a shift in his work towards Surrealism.And his close friendship with Arshile Corky, who had begun using biomorphic forms and experimenting with automatic techniques in the mid -193os, importantly contributed to Noguchi's reassessment ofthe movement.

Writing of his first table, designed in 1939, Noguchi highlighted the tensions at play in his work during this period:

Even the first table I made for Conger Goodyear was not exactly utilitarian. I thought of it as a sculpture that was a table. After all, you can

say that the earth is a table. We feast upon it. You can also say that it is utilitarian. this earth. Or you can say that it is something else. I don't deny that Giacometti may have influenced me. Surrealism was in the air in the thirties and forties, a definite force. '9

Made for the new house (designed by Ed D. Stone) of the president of the Museum of Modem Art,

The Shapes of life

91

Anson Conger Goodyear, the table consists of a glass top on an articulated rosewood base (5.13). The sculptural support touches the glass at only three points and can be moved into various positions. Suggestive of Ciacometti's Surrealist objects, such as Boulesuspendue, Noguchi looked to Surrealism for formal inspiration

(see ~.ll). He was also aware that Giacometti

had produced furniture and works for the interiors ofJean - Michel Frank in Paris and

had himself been invited by Frank to produce designs for furniture. The Conger Goodyear table was followed by another, which revealed the increasing influence of Surrealism on Noguchi's work. The Philip Goodwin table

of 1941 was composed of a single block with

a central void, evocative ofthe organic forms

of Arp and Moore (5.14). Its smooth surfaces appear crafted by the elements, and convey the sense of a found object. Noguchi had already experimented with the found object, creating sculptures from driftwood whose shapes were naturally biomorphic (5.15). In his design for ure GUUdWlll table he emulated The erreets of 'wind and netter, Clh.ilIuUy i'!u~J:e"lil1g the WUIl!

92

5.13 Isamu Noguchi,

table for Anson Conger Goodyear. Wood and glass. 1939. Private Collection

5.14 Isamu Noguchi.

table for Philip Goodwin. Laminated and carved avodire, 1941. Museum of Modern Art, New York

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surfaces of a found object, while creating a work that was extremely carefully crafted.

Noguchi, like many artists in New York in

the early 1940s, became increasingly interested in subjective perception and forms of automatic practice. He wrote, 'In the throw of chance, the free association and automatism of invention, the limits are those of the possible, not those of taste but of physical econorny''? Contoured Playground of 1941 explored ideas of chance and the game, and again referenced the work of Giacometti, particularly No More .Play of 193~, with its shallow circular depressions (5.16). In this design for a playground in New York, Noguchi developed biornorphic forms applicable to the landscape. He conceived of

the playground as a safe 'sculptural landscape' writing, 'men the adult would imagine like a child he must project himself into seeing the world as a totally new experience. I like to think of playgrounds as a primer of shapes and functions: simple, mysterious, and evocative.f" The strange bulges and scrapes or 'earth modulatinns', as he referred to them, intentionally bring to mind the ancient forms of prehistoric burial mounds or thetypography of a vanished city.

Like many of the Surrealists, Noguchi looked to the archaic to convey a symbolism of essential form and space. Although the project was never realized, Contoured PLayground formed the basis for later landscape works.

The idea of biornorphic environments was further developed in his series of sculptural lights, or Lunars, of the early 1940S (5.17)' Again, the primitive was at the root of the concept for these lights: 'perhaps soon in the atomic age, we will all live in caves ... I thought of the luminous object as a source of delight

in itself +Iike fire it attracts and protects

us from the beasts of the night.""~ Lunar Landscape of 1943 is an alien terrain of bulging forms and glowing lights (5.18). Made of cement-like magnesite, a material developed for the Ford fountain commission at the New York's World Fair of 1939. the piece plays with the multi - referential nature of biomorphic forms and combines them with suspended cork spheres, which clearly refer to Calder's wallmounted mobiles of the mid -193os."3The use of recessed lights that glow through irregularshaped apertures, like ftss~res in the Earth's surface, also suggest a primordial landscape. Red Lunar Fist of 1944 evokes an unstable, eruptive alien world (5.19). Noguchi described his Lunars as having 'more to do

with interstellar space than with [lamps] '. Z4

The Lunar Landscapes had shifted the idea of the biomorphic landscape to the vertical, and the natural development was to apply this on an architectural scale: 'I myself was not satisfied with the limited dimensions possible, the fragmental), approach, for the eventual realization

5.16 Isamu Noguchi. Contoured Playgroun.d. Bronze model. 1941. Noguchi Museum,

New York

i'lL: <).JJdJY.' ~:n entire space .'~5 For his commission D a«: ,~J r:de the stairwell on the SS Argentina.,

"'I of1;tQ]D developed the ideas explored in Lunar 'rt rlC.~DJ7~ C].';\o). Viewers ofthe wall relief _._;g.ar f,.,yage gained shifting views of

I ,J,"J;!d~~E as they ascended or descended the

I ,ilb, 'Uli:: movement across its surface of deep, ,I willB recesses and strange, incised symbols

I I 1141 hay" Cleated an unnerving experience.

IW(I a:dlitectural projects of 1947 and 1948 , ., ~ Illl ~ e i deas further: the ceiling ofthe recep- 1111 ""I'~ Cll'·tJ:J.e New York Time Life building

• 11\\1 II. Kl['oyed) and the lobby of Harrison K.

IIII j I illll-\'skrnerican Stove Company building 11,1111.' (which survives, but is covered by

a suspended ceiling) (5. ,;\1). The ceiling for the American Stove Company - the model for which reveals the intended colour scheme - relies

on the same language of deep recesses and curving forms. Noguchi described this ceiling as 'a development of the architecture itselfwhat you might call an emotionally functional as well as a mechani.cally functional thing'. ~6 Organic metaphors abound, and the flaring central column literally flows or grows into the ceiling. This ceiling remains one of the most important examples ofbiomorphic architecture ofthe 19408.

It was through the sphere of commercial product design that Noguchi's Surrealist-inspired

biomorphic forms were to have a widespread impact. In 1944 he designed a chess table for the Imagery of Chess exhibition organized by Julien Levy (see P.30S). The form ofthe base, with its structure of interlocking sections, i.s related to his interlocking sculptures of the mid- 1940s, such as Remembrance. Although designed for chess, the table was adapted for multi -purpose use by the addition of plastic insets for the holes, and was put into production as the IN-'61 by the Herman Miller Company in 1947.27 It combined materials and techniques

in a highly innovative way. The base and surface were made of plywood, while the moulded tray was cast from aluminium. George Nelson, who

had become head of design for Herman Miller, was quick to commission Noguchi to produce other designs, and the company played a crucial role in helping to establish biornorphism as the modern style for American interior design in the late 194os.~8

One of the most ambitious designs developed for the Herman Miller Company - and one that combined Noguchi's interest in sculpture, design and landscape -was the IN-70 sofa (5.~~). This massive piece was composed of very simple hiomorphic elements suggestive of undulating landscape forms. Noguchi himself described it as 'a soft rock' in an article entitled 'Free Form

for Furniture' inArchitectural Forum magazine of April 1949. 49 'Free form', a term frequently used in the late 19406 and '50s, not only referred to formal values, but also suggested the psychological concerns. underpinning the work. Mimicking the term 'free association' and conveying similar meaning, 'free form' pointed to the multireferential nature ofbiomorphism. The IN-70, for instance, was also known as the Cloud - Form Sofa, and its shape suggested a series of associations from natural objects, such as clouds, stones or pools, to shapes formed in the unconscious. 'Free form' was defmed in the Architectural Forum as 'a shape determined by inner purpose rather

98

Surreal Things

5.21lsamu Noguchi, ceiling for the American Slove Company building, S! Louis. Missouri, 1948

than outside arbitrary rules', and subjective impulse as a determinant of form was perceiY~ as progressive, if somewhat suspect: 'Free fori like free love, is a highly controversial subject apt to be eyed with suspicion.T"

Noguchi created a bridge for the transmis ofbiomorphic form and the ideas associated with its forms between the worlds of art and commerce. His designs - and particularly his most famous IN-50 coffee table (the design at which was derived from the Conger Goodyear table) - were tremendously influentiaL Creal from two wooden biomorphic supports and

an asymmetric piece of glass, the table had a beautifully simple design that spawned a host of imitations. The American designer Terenc Robsjohn -Gibbings, always quick to adapt to latest fashion, produced a table consisting of three supports derived from a Noguchi design (much to Noguchi's chagrin) and slyly adverti it in the Surrealist magazine View (5.23). H went on to produce several biomorphic desi including his Mesa Table of 1951, inspired by Arp's biomorphic shapes. Biomorphic image was adopted by commercial manufacturers in every area of design during the 1950s, from linoleum to lighting. oguchi commented,

'One day somebody told me of a sign in a windo "Noguchi -type lamps". The manufacturer, to whom I complained, said he had "Calder-typeand "Moore-type" lamps as well.'?' Biomorphis nne- art lineage was an important selling poinr.

Another factor helping to tip the balance towards biomorphism came in the area of industrial design, The elegant, streamlined forms of American consumer goods, created the image of the machine by the 'Stylists' of the 19308, could easily morph into the rounded and irregular shapes of clouds, pools or stone under new commercial pressures. Those ultimate symbols of modernity in the 192,OS, the automobile and the ocean liner, were replaced by the amoeba, the cell or the nucleus in a

new hierarchy of modern signs, and these

5.22 Isamu Noguchi,

I N-70 sofa and footstool. Wood, foam rubber and

- textile, 1948. Milwaukee Art Museum

5.23 Advertisernect i 'Robsjohn-Gibbirgs. Designer of Fumihm Backgrounds'. Pub is in View, nO.2, Marcn:

NAL, P~.~.N

amorphous forms were just as easy to manufacture using case-moulding techniques as the sleek forms of Streamline design. These new forms also seemed to convey the uncertainty and irrationality of a nuclear age,

The hiomorphic imagery of the 1950S represented a benign imagery after the war, fundamentally rooted in Surrealism's psyohological preoccupation with self. Inherent in the choice of an organic design language was the idea of refuge in the unconscious and the subjective. Biornorphism seemed to express a truth about the relationship between man and his environment, whether archaizing or modernizing. Noguchi summed up its appeal: 'But beyond the reach of industrially realizable design or archi - tecturally applied sculpture was, I felt, a Iarger, more fundamentally sculptural purpose of sculpture, a more direct expression of Man's relation to the earth and his enviroriment.T'

ROBSJOHN

G I BBl' N G S

The Shapes of Life