First time in Europe; Gallery.

Byline: By DAVID HAMMOND

A HUGE Akara lamp decorates the entrance to the Visitor Centre at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

It is the work of Isamu Noguchi (1904-88), one of the great artists of the 20th century.

The park at West Bretton is hosting (until February) the first European exhibition of work by the sculptor.

There are more than 150 works carefully selected from the artist's former home and studio museum collections in New York and Japan.

In Gallery One in the park's Underground Gallery, Sun atMidnight is a handsome circular piece in two-tone granite.

There's also a water table in black granite.

Abstract sculpture in varied form makes for an exciting display in Gallery Two, using wood, brass, wire, bronze and marble.

These sculptures were conceived at a time when Noguchi was assistant to Constantin Brancusi and part of the Spring of Modern Art in Paris.

Several important dance sets are included.

Set Elements for Herodiade (painted plywood 1941), the biggest piece, was designed for dancers to stand on and use as extensions to their own body.

Elsewhere, there's a wide variety of shapes, with pieces like Leda, Sail Shape and Model for Bolt of Lightning Memorial to Ben Franklin (bronze, chrome and aluminium on wood).

The set elements for Judith are in balsa wood and the delicate set elements for Cave of the Heart in magnesite on fabric and wire.

The ingenious shapes in Gallery Three were created after a visit to the Far East and include Folded Torso, Solar and Noh Musicians.

There are also human studies, such as the sumo wrester and the Chinese girl resting on her elbows.

Some powerful drawings reveal the quality of Noguchi's draughtsmanship.

Handsome, landscape- inspired works dominate Gallery Four.

The sculptor brought many stones from Japan..

"I love the use of stone because it is most meaning- impregnated material," he said.

"It seems to me that the most natural medium of wood and stone, alive before man was, have the greater capacity to comfort us with the reality of our being."

Watch out, too, for the half-hare, half human figures by Sophie Ryder (until November).

These are impressive works in wire, with some of them verging on the gigantic. There's also the Eye, a wire drawing suspended high in the landscape so that its detail is read against the sky.

ORIGINAL pastel drawings by Marion Branton have gone on display and are for sale at Hammond's Yard Cafe, King Street, Huddersfield.

CAPTION(S):

FIRST CHANCE: The Yorkshire Sculpture Park at West Bretton is staging the first European exhibition of work by Isomu Noguchi, one of the great artists of the 20th century