Gregory (Effigy)

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Artist Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988)

Title Gregory (Effigy)

Date 1945 (cast 1969)

Medium Bronze

Dimensions Base (as per registrar file article piece): 12 in. (30.5 cm)
Overall: 69 3/16 x 15 3/4 in. (175.7 x 40 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 71.8

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About this Work

In the late 1920s, Noguchi worked in the Paris studio of sculptor Constantin Brancusi, whose use of streamlined, biomorphic forms had a profound influence on him. According to Noguchi, his inspiration for Gregory came from two disparate sources: a wood effigy of a sea god that he saw in Polynesia and Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, whose main character, Gregor Samsa, transforms into a cockroach. Some have speculated that the sculpture may allude to Noguchi’s own experience of being transformed into from an American citizen into an “alien” during World War II due to his Japanese heritage.

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Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Gregory (Effigy) | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=71.8