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Red Cube – by Isamu Noguchi

Location: In front of 140 Broadway, between Liberty and Cedar Streets.

1968 / Steel

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Red Cube is located to one side of a small plaza in front of the HSBC.  It is surrounded on three sides by skyscrapers. The height of these skyscrapers draw a viewer’s eye upwards. The sculpture itself adds to this upward pull, as it balances on one corner, the opposite corner reaching towards the sky. The bright red painted steel of Isamu Noguchi’s Red Cube stands out in strong contrast to the blacks, browns, and whites of the building.

Despite its title, the sculpture is not actually a cube, but instead seems as though it has been stretched along its vertical axis.

Aside from it’s striking color, Red Cube also stands out from the surrounding architecture in that all of its lines are diagonals, whereas the buildings are made up of horizontal and vertical lines. Additionally, the sculpture is balanced somewhat precariously on one corner, while the buildings, by contrast, and solidly placed.

Through the center of the cube there is a cylindrical hole, revealing an inner surface of gray with evenly-spaced lines moving from one opening of the hole to the other. Looking through this hole, the viewer’s gaze is directed towards the building behind, tying the sculpture and the architecture together.

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