American sculptor. Noguchi was born to a Japanese father and American mother. He spent his childhood in Japan but returned to the United States in 1918. Noguchi studied with Gutzon Borglum and worked as Brancusi's studio assistant for six months in the late 1920s. In addition to abstract sculptures, Noguchi created set designs for Martha Graham's dance company, public plazas and gardens, including a garden organized around modernist sculptures for the UNESCO headquarters complex in Paris.