Big Plaque

Two years ago the Associated Press wanted to adorn the entrance to its new building in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center with a large, impressive plaque in conventional bronze, offered a prize of $1,000 for the best design. Winner was Isamu Noguchi, muscular, California-born, Japanese-Irish sculptor, who submitted a small-scale plaster model depicting five symbolic figures (editor, reporter, photographer, teletype and telephoto operators) straining eyes and ears for news. With sudden inspiration and daring, A. P. decided to have its plaque in stainless steel.

Sculptor Noguchi worked for about a year at a full-scale plaster model from which the steel plaque could be cast. The plaster model (17 by 22 ft.) took up his entire studio from floor to roof. Shipped to Boston in nine pieces, Noguchi's model provided General Alloys Co. with one of the biggest casting problems in its history. Because Noguchi's plaque, News, was 20 times larger than any sculptural casting made in stainless steel, foundry engineers had to tax their wits to meet the technical requirements. Into nine synthetic sand molds made from the plaster model, ten tons of molten stainless steel (temperature 3,000DEG F.) were poured. When the steel had cooled, four hundred gallons of ammonia and nitric acid, 3,000 gallons of boiling water, were sloshed over its surface to shine it. Said William H. Eisenman, secretary of the American Society for Metals: "It is easily the outstanding achievement of the decade in American foundry practice, probably an all-time high."

This week, with ceremony and speeches, Noguchi's big piece of steel, securely fitted in its niche in the A. P. Building's fac,ade, was unveiled. Short, kewpie-faced Noguchi listened to the speeches, viewed his plaque, looked relieved. When it was all over he started for Hawaii, where Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (Dole pineapple) had offered him a three-month holiday.

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