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Dying Noguchi tree felled

By Nathan Duke

For the past eight years, the museum's two-story Ailanthus altissima tree has been dying, forcing the institution to chop it down before it collapsed onto the museum's soon-to-be renovated building, curator Bonnie Rychlak said.”Because of the renovation and knowing that the tree would have to be cut anyway, we thought it would be better to take it out,” she said. “It's very sad – many people have been mourning it.”Rychlak said the tree was chopped down to ground level last week, but its roots were left in the ground. She said the museum might let the tree grow back following the renovation or plant a new Ailanthus tree. In the meantime, Detroit-based Tree of Heaven Woodshop will use the tree's wood to create a new bench at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.Sculptor Isamu Noguchi razed the area that is now the museum's garden when creating the complex in 1985, but decided to keep the tree, a weed species brought to the United States from China, Rychlak said.”It was probably a good size even then,” she said. “He planted the garden and it must have looked pretty barren. It takes a long time for trees to grow, so it was probably the Ailanthus that held court there. It was the one thing at the time that made the place seem green.”The tree, which originates from mainland China and Taiwan, is often referred to as a “poverty tree” or “ghetto palm” and tends to emit a strong odor.The 27,000-square-foot museum has the world's largest exhibition of Noguchi's sculptures, furniture, lamps, stage designs, drawings and architectural models. Noguchi died in 1988.The museum's $8.2 million renovation project, which kicked off March 25, will include stabilizing its garden wall, adding new windows and rebuilding the site's entry pavilion, museum Director Jenny Dixon said. The museum, located at 9-01 33rd Road in Long Island City, will remain open during the renovation, but its sculpture garden will be closed, she said. Construction is expected to be completed by October, she said.The museum undertook the $13.5 million first phase of its project between 2002 and 2004 after its structure began to settle unevenly, Dixon said.Reach reporter Nathan Duke by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.