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Harry Bertoia Drawings

American, Italian, 1915-1978

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 mid-century modernism. Among furniture aficionados, Bertoia is known for his chairs such as 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, he 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

At Cranbrook, 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 the school, 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.

Find vintage Harry Bertoia sculptures, armchairs, benches and other furniture and art on 1stDibs.

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Creator: Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia Monoprint
By Harry Bertoia
Located in New York, NY
Large mono-print by Harry Bertoia, initialed and numbered 1857 on rice paper set mounted in oiled walnut frame. From the Bertoia Family collection. A beautiful rendering of his sculp...
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1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Harry Bertoia Drawings

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Willem De Kooning Complete Set of 17 Lithographs Each Signed and Numbered 1988
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Pair of 20th Century Framed Crackled Prints of Entrances to Schloss Belvedere
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James Jacques Joseph Tissot "Soirée d'été" 'Summer Evening' Etching & Dry Point
By James Tissot
Located in Los Angeles, CA
A fine French 19th century etching and drypoint Titled "Soirée d'été" (Summer Evening) by Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902) depicting Mrs. Kathleen Newton resting on a lounge chair. Signed and dated (l/l): J.J. Tissot, 1881 in the plate. Under the mat, the front of the sheet inscribed in pencil with a '1' in a circle, the verso of the sheet with old price inscription "450-" in pencil. Circa: 1881-1882. Measures: Plate Height: 9 inches (22.9 cm) Plate Width: 15 1/2 inches (39.4 cm) Sheet Height: 14 1/2 inches (36.8 cm) Sheet Width: 20 5/8 inches (52.4 cm) Frame Height: 19 inches (48.3 cm) Frame Width: 24 1/2 inches (62.2 cm) Frame Depth: 1 1/8 inches (2.9 cm) Literature: Wentworth 56. Note: Tissot's from 1881 is said to depict his lover, the Irish divorcee Mrs. Kathleen Newton, resting on a lounge chair. Provenance: Private collection, Los Angeles, California Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 15 October 1836 – 8 August 1902), Anglicized as James Tissot, was a French painter and illustrator. He was a successful painter of Paris society before moving to London in 1871. He became famous as a genre painter of fashionably dressed women shown in various scenes of everyday life. He also painted scenes and characters from the Bible. Jacques Tissot was born in the city of Nantes in France and spent his early childhood there. His father, Marcel Théodore Tissot, was a successful drapery merchant. His mother, Marie Durand, assisted her husband in the family business and designed hats. A devout Catholic, Tissot's mother instilled pious devotion in the future artist from a very young age. Tissot's youth spent in Nantes likely contributed to his frequent depiction of shipping vessels and boats in his later works. The involvement of his parents in the fashion industry is believed to have been an influence on his painting style, as he depicted women's clothing in fine detail. By the time Tissot was 17, he knew he wanted to pursue painting as a career. His father opposed this, preferring his son to follow a business profession, but the young Tissot gained his mother's support for his chosen vocation. Around this time, he began using the given name of James. By 1854 he was commonly known as James Tissot; he may have adopted it because of his increasing interest in everything English. In 1856 or 1857, Tissot travelled to Paris to pursue an education in art. While staying with a friend of his mother, painter Elie Delaunay, Tissot enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts to study in the studios of Hippolyte Flandrin and Louis Lamothe. Both were successful Lyonnaise painters who moved to Paris to study under Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Lamothe provided the majority of Tissot's studio education, and the young artist studied on his own by copying works at the Louvre, as did most other artists of the time in their early years. Around this time, Tissot also made the acquaintance of the American James McNeill Whistler, and French painters Edgar Degas (who had also been a student of Lamothe and a friend of Delaunay), and Édouard Manet. In 1859, Tissot exhibited in the Paris Salon for the first time. He showed five paintings of scenes from the Middle Ages, many depicting scenes from Goethe's Faust. These works show the influence in his work of the Belgian painter Henri Leys (Jan August Hendrik Leys), whom Tissot had met in Antwerp earlier that same year. Other influences include the works of the German painters Peter Von Cornelius and Moritz Retzsch. After Tissot had first exhibited at the Salon and before he had been awarded a medal, the French government paid 5,000 francs for his depiction of The Meeting of Faust and Marguerite in 1860, with the painting being exhibited at the Salon the following year, together with a portrait and other paintings. Émile Péreire supplied Tissot's painting Walk in the Snow for the 1862 international exhibition in London; the next year three paintings by Tissot were displayed at the London gallery of Ernest Gambart. In about 1863, Tissot suddenly shifted his focus from the medieval style to the depiction of modern life through portraits. During this period, Tissot gained high critical acclaim, and quickly became a success as an artist. Like contemporaries such as Alfred Stevens and Claude Monet, Tissot also explored Japonisme, including Japanese objects and costumes in his pictures and expressing style influence. Degas painted a portrait of Tissot from these years (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), in which he is sitting below a Japanese screen hanging on the wall. Still on Top, 1873 Tissot fought in the Franco-Prussian War as part of the improvised defense of Paris, joining two companies of the Garde Nationale and later as part of the Paris Commune. His 1870 painting La Partie Carrée (The Foursome) evoked the period of the French revolution. Either because of the radical political associations related to the Paris Commune (which he was believed to have joined mostly to protect his own belongings rather than for shared ideology), or because of better opportunities, he left Paris for London in 1871. During this period, Seymour Haden helped him to learn etching techniques. 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Harry Bertoia monoprint
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Harry Bertoia monoprint
Harry Bertoia monoprint
H 37 in W 27 in D 1.5 in
Art Deco Drawing Representing Nude Woman by Van Doren 'Raymond' Belgium 1941
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Brassaï Lithography Hand Signed
By Brassaï
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
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Brassaï Lithography Hand Signed
Brassaï Lithography Hand Signed
H 13 in W 11.42 in D 1.58 in
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By Harry Bertoia
Located in New York, NY
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Previously Available Items
Early Harry Bertoia Monoprint Pencil Signed on Verso
By Harry Bertoia
Located in Dallas, TX
Early Harry Bertoia monoprint from the Staempfli gallery pencil signed on the back of frame. (c-3991) This work is unique. Print itself measures 12" x 39".
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1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Harry Bertoia Drawings

Harry Bertoia drawings for sale on 1stDibs.

Harry Bertoia drawings are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of paper and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Harry Bertoia drawings, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original drawings by Harry Bertoia were created in the mid-century modern style in united states during the 1960s. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider drawings by Peter Max, and Salvatore Grippi. Prices for Harry Bertoia drawings can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $8,500 and can go as high as $8,500, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $8,500.
Questions About Harry Bertoia Drawings
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    Whether or not a Harry Bertoia chair is comfortable really comes down to a matter of personal preference, but there are a lot of positive reviews pertaining to how comfortable the Italian-born American designer’s seating is. 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. Shop a selection of Bertoia chairs from some of the world’s top dealers on 1stDibs.

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