Biography

Minoru Niizuma was a sculptor best known for his Abstract work in marble. Born in Tokyo, Japan, he studied at the National Toyko University of Fine Arts. Throughout his career, he taught sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum Art School and Columbia University in New York, NY. Niizuma carved marble, stone, granite, and volcanic rock into sculptures that range from strictly geometric to organic forms. He drew inspiration from traditional Japanese Folk Art, fabrics, and ritual vessels. Niizuma’s work is also closely related to the aesthetic of European Minimalist sculpture and Earth Art. He was particularly interested in nature, as seen in The Wave’s Voice (1963), a rectangular block of granite with carved niches that suggest the sea. Similarly, Hollow Sea (1966) is a moss-covered block of marble incised with curving horizontal lines. His work is currently held in several public collections, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.