Sculptors rarely attract the headlines afforded other contemporary artists.

Aside from the occasional row about some new piece of public art, most have tended to go more quietly about their business – and none more so than Isamu Noguchi.

When he died in 1988, his career had spanned six decades, and with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park hosting the first major exhibition of his work, it's a rare chance for visitors to view more than 150 works, some of which have never been seen outside Japan.

Opened this week by British sculptor Antony Gormley and organised in close collaboration with The Noguchi Museum, New York, it is something of a coup for the venue and a guaranteed highlight of the summer season.

"Noguchi was one of the great artists of the 20th century," said a spokesman for the park. "He created a significant and influential body of work including sculpture, furniture, paintings, ceramics and set designs. For many, his name is attached to what are popularly known as Noguchi lamps – exquisite paper and wire lights that the artist called Akari light sculptures."

Born in Los Angeles, the illegitimate son of a Japanese poet, he ignored early advice to become a doctor to pursue his artistic ambitions. A brief apprenticeship was followed by night classes and his talent quickly shone through when just three months later he held his first exhibition.

Like many famous artists, Noguchi honed his skills in Paris. While portrait busts of the rich and famous often provided his bread and butter, by the 1930s he was submitting his first designs for public spaces.

No stranger to rejection, many of his early designs remained on the drawing board. But when he unveiled a 20m long relief in Mexico City, entitled History as Seen From Mexico in 1936, its use of the Nazi swastika as well as the Russian hammer and sickle saw him thrust into the international spotlight.

The work showed he was not one to shy away from uncomfortable political situations and, following the American attack on Pearl Harbor, he worked hard to stem the rise of anti-Japanese sentiment, volunteering to work at an internment camp in Arizona where many Japanese Americans were being held.

It took until the late 1940s for Noguchi to cement his place on the New York art scene, designing furniture and lamps for Herman, Miller and Knoll and sets for the choreographer Martha Graham and when he died
in 1988 aged 84, the New York Times described him as "a versatile and prolific sculptor whose earthy stones and meditative gardens bridging East and West have become landmarks of 20th-century art".

The YSP spokesman added: "A dramatic display of Noguchi's Akari light sculptures will welcome visitors to the exhibition .

"The display will feature lights of various forms and sizes, and there will also be an indoor and outdoor display of Noguchi's magnificent stone carvings, ranging in size from 25 tonnes to small interior works, along with ceramics, designs and drawings."

The Isamu Noguchi exhibition runs until February next year and, in collaboration with Vitra, the park's Garden Gallery will also be selling a range of iconic furniture by Noguchi as well as Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Frank Gehry and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.