Magatama, Large-02

This polished granite sculpture references the shape of magatama, kidney- or comma-shaped beads carved from jadeite or other precious stones found in Korean and Japanese burial sites that date to the tenth century bce. In Japan, magatama have associations with Shinto practices.

Izumi was born into a family of stone carvers in Mure on the southern Japanese island of Shikoku, an area known for quarries that yield a hard, lustrous black granite called aji-ishi. His family was well known for carving traditional lanterns and garden pagodas, but his own work explored the realm of abstract sculpture and Minimalism in the postwar era. Izumi’s sculptures reflect his interest in simple forms that express the innate beauty of rocks— sometimes rough-hewn, sometimes finely polished.

 In 1964 Izumi established the Stone Atelier in Mure to explore traditional stonecutting techniques in modern settings. Through the atelier he became a close collaborator with the American Modernist Isamu Noguchi (1904– 1988) for more than twenty years, until Noguchi’s death in 1988.