Bright Harry Bertoia Sonambient Sculpture
View Similar Items
Bright Harry Bertoia Sonambient Sculpture
About the Item
- Creator:Harry Bertoia (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 17 in (43.18 cm)Width: 7 in (17.78 cm)Depth: 3 in (7.62 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1972
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Toronto, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU93473632952
Harry Bertoia
Sculptor, furniture and jewelry designer, graphic artist and metalsmith, Harry Bertoia was one of the great cross-disciplinarians of 20th-century art and design and a central figure in American modernism. Among furniture aficionados he is known for the wire-lattice Diamond chair (and its variants such as the tall-backed Bird chair) designed for Knoll Inc. and first released in 1952. As an artist, Bertoia is revered for a style that was his alone. Bertoia’s metal sculptures are by turns expressive and austere, powerful and subtle, intimate in scale and monumental. All embody a tension between the intricacy and precision of Bertoia’s forms and the raw strength of his materials: steel, brass, bronze and copper.
Fortune seemed to guide Bertoia’s artistic development. Born in northeastern Italy, Bertoia immigrated to the United States at age 15, joining an older brother in Detroit. He studied drawing and metalworking in the gifted student program at Cass Technical High School. Recognition led to awards that culminated, in 1937, in a teaching scholarship to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in suburban Bloomfield Hills, one of the great crucibles of modernism in America. There, Bertoia made friendships — with architect Eero Saarinen, designers Charles and Ray Eames and Florence Schust Knoll and others — that shaped the course of his life. He taught metalworking at Cranbrook, and when materials rationing during World War II limited the availability of metals, Bertoia focused on jewelry design. He also experimented with monotype printmaking, and 19 of his earliest efforts were bought by the Guggenheim Museum.
In 1943, he left Cranbrook to work in California with the Eameses, helping them develop their now-famed plywood furniture. (Bertoia received scant credit.) Late in that decade, Florence and Hans Knoll persuaded him to move east and join Knoll Inc. His chairs became, and remain, perennial bestsellers. Royalties allowed Bertoia to devote himself full-time to metal sculpture, a medium he began to explore in earnest in 1947.
By the early 1950s Bertoia was receiving commissions for large-scale works from architects — the first came via Saarinen — as he refined his aesthetic vocabulary into two distinct skeins. One comprises his “sounding sculptures” — gongs and “Sonambient” groupings of rods that strike together and chime when touched by hand or by the wind. The other genre encompasses Bertoia’s naturalistic works: abstract sculptures that suggest bushes, flower petals, leaves, dandelions or sprays of grass. As you will see on these pages, Harry Bertoia was truly unique; his art and designs manifest a wholly singular combination of delicacy and strength.
- An inscribed copy of Harry Bertoia's "Sculptor"By Harry BertoiaLocated in Toronto, OntarioA nice inscribed copy of June Kompass Nelson's book "Harry Bertoia , Sculptor"Category
Vintage 1970s American Books
MaterialsPaper
- Theodore Waddell 7+ Table Lamp SculptureBy Theodore WaddellLocated in Toronto, OntarioA beautiful Waddell table lamp for Zanotta Italy ca. 1969. These pieces are functional as well as decorative in a sculptural form. Rare Italian modern design. This example has 1...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsMetal
- Tapio Wirkkala's TW 476 Bowl in BronzeBy Tapio WirkkalaLocated in Toronto, OntarioA terrific handmade Bronze bowl for Kultakeskus Oy. These bowls are custom ordered and hand hammered to shape. An exceptional piece. Executed in 1974.Category
Vintage 1970s Finnish Desk Accessories
MaterialsBronze
- Handcrafted Metal Deer FigureLocated in Toronto, Ontarioa beautifully hand crafted metal welded deer figure.Category
Vintage 1950s American Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- SIlver Tapio Wirkkala bowl TW 282By Tapio WirkkalaLocated in Toronto, OntarioA beautiful handmade to order solid silver bowl by Tapio Wirkkala for Kultakeskus .Category
Vintage 1960s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Decorative Bowls
- Tapio Wirkkala Bronze Bowl TW491By Tapio WirkkalaLocated in Toronto, OntarioA very nice and rather large solid bronze bowl by Tapio Wirkkala for Kultakeskus Oy, ca. 1974 Sculpted and hand turned with applied bronze feet. Stamped to bottom .Category
Vintage 1970s Finnish Scandinavian Modern Bowls and Baskets
MaterialsBronze
- Sonambient Sculpture by Harry BertoiaBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Georges Mills, NHRare Harry Bertoia sonambient sculpture. Pair of off-axis bronze rod arrays silver soldered onto a solid bronze base, circa 1967. Sold with a certificate of authenticity by the Hary ...Category
Vintage 1960s North American Mid-Century Modern Mobiles and Kinetic Scul...
MaterialsGold Plate, Brass, Steel
- Harry Bertoia, Monumental Sonambient SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NYHarry Bertoia, Monumental Sonambient Sculpture, USA, circa 1970's. Inconel on brass plate, comprised of 49 rods in a 7 x 7 layout with cattails, unmarked. Measures H: 81, W: 16, D: 1...Category
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- Midcentury Harry Bertoia Sonambient SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in BROOKLYN, NYMidcentury Harry Bertoia Sonambient sculpture featuring seven black monel "cat-tail" tops silvered to beryllium. Copper rods silvered to brass base. In fin...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBrass, Copper
- Harry Bertoia Two Column Sonambient SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NYAn atypical form for Beartoia's (1915-1978) sonambients given it's split in the centre of the rods. A desirable size for display in the home and a typically wonderful sound quality.Category
Vintage 1960s American Industrial Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- Sonambient Rods Sculpture by Harry BertoiaBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NYA sonambient rods sculpture by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978). A desirable size for display in the home and a typically wonderful sound quality.Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
Price Upon Request - Harry Bertoia Gold Plated Bronze Diagonal Double Tonal Sonambient SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in St. Louis, MOSculptor and Artist Harry Bertoia gold plated bronze Sonambient sculpture, diagonal double tonal, circa 1965. Two groupings of thin rods at different angles on poured slab of bronze. Purchased from estate of the original owner. Sold with a “Certificate of Authenticity” from the Harry Bertoia foundation, along with a copy of the Knoll letter...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Mobiles and Kinetic Sculptures
MaterialsBronze