Black Sun: How Capitol Hill Became Home to Isamu Noguchi’s 12-Ton Sculpture
03.21.2021 for Capitol Hill Historical Society
“Meet you by the Black Sun...I want it to be a meeting place and I can see young people gathering around it,” beamed Isamu Noguchi to a writer at The Seattle Times, perhaps moments after his sculpture’s public reveal on September 12th, 1969. Black Sun stands proudly at nine feet tall and is impressively polished, resting its circular frame in an act that defies physics. There are fewer Seattle experiences more enchanting than staring, due west, through the asymmetrical center of Black Sun’s granite.
The origins of Black Sun began in the first month of 1967. The National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities provided a $45,000 grant to three separate cities to institute a public art sculpture. Seattle was one of the chosen locations, paired with the artist Isamu Noguchi. By this time, Noguchi was an
internationally recognized modern sculptor, splitting his time and identity between Japan and the United States. Born to his Japanese father and his American mother in Los Angeles, Noguchi felt a long-lasting, simultaneous allegiance and alienation from his two nationalities. Like himself, Black Sun spanned both locations. The sculpture’s conception took place on the Japanese island of Shikoku, and its intended resting place was Volunteer Park in Seattle. Black Sun was the artist’s largest sculpture to date, and it seems closest to the geographic dualism he felt deeply in his core.
Also, I really recommend that you read the expansive and completely addictive biography of Noguchi.