Hand-Crafted Abstract Sculptures

WEARABLE ART AN IMPORTANT DESIGN FOR A NECKLACE The necklace is unique and extraordinary. Because of its specific design elements it lays beautifully and comfortably on any body structure. This piece comes from a private collection. Provenance will accompany the piece. It has been authenticated by Val Bertoia and is listed in the Harry Bertoia Foundation Catalogue Raisonne # D.JE.49 having been authenticated as a Harry Bertoia piece. REPLY FROM CHRISTIE'S: "Dear Charles, thank you for contacting Christie's. I am absolutely stunned to see the necklace by Harry Bertoia you have submitted for feedback from us, and I would love to speak with you about the work at your earliest convenience. I am a great fan and a known expert in the work of Harry Bertoia, and I have handled over 600 of his sculptures, jewelry and art over the last 22 years. I have never seen a better piece of his jewelry, and it stands as one of the greatest objects in any category that he made. Michael Jefferson Senior Vice President International Senior Specialist Design" The following is from Beverly H. Twitchell, PhD, author of Bertoia: The Metalworker, London: Phaidon, 2019. She provides a very informative critique of Bertoia and his jewelry. Wearable Art an Important Design for a Necklace “Before Harry Bertoia enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1937 he had already mastered traditional jewelers’ techniques, but his engagement with Modernism led him to invent and use more direct methods. Instead of precious metals and gems, Bertoia made jewelry that appealed through its design, craftsmanship and the nature of its materials. That approach would make Bertoia a direct predecessor of the American Studio Crafts movement. So complex and cumulative are human perception and memory that we often do not know from where our own ideas come and without firm evidence, it is impossible to think we can establish the origins of an artist’s ideas. While his jewelry is entirely modern, chokers with multiple small pendants had come from ancient Mediterranean cultures: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Italy, even from Europe and America at the turn of the last century. Did Bertoia see works in books, journals or at the Detroit Institute of Arts that resonated with him or did he invent this on his own, as he would so many other forms? Bertoia found inspiration in nature from an early age on a small farm in Italy and later in Cranbrook’s woods, on the beaches of southern California and in the fields near his home in eastern Pennsylvania where he lived after 1950. The fluidity and motion of the his jewelry characterize much of his art. In that spirit, too, he made jewelry that suited human anatomy and was animated by its wearer’s movement. Bertoia had the instincts of an engineer, as the intricacy of the present lot’s clasp and overall construction of the jewelry demonstrates. Large jewelry by Bertoia is very rare. A delight to the eye, and like all of Bertoia’s work it is timeless. Bertoia had the instincts of an engineer, as the intricacy of the present lot's clasp and the overall construction of this piece demonstrate. Closed, the necklace sits on a table in a surprisingly conical shape, but it is so flexible that it conforms to its wearer from her neck nearly to her shoulders. Each handmade section is riveted to its neighbors, allowing it to adjust to the body while the pendants curve in many directions: one fits the left clavicle so precisely that Bertoia likely tried it on Brigitta Valentiner, who became his wife in 1943. Other pendants face toward or away from each other, bending up or down. Each element has been hammered into multiple curves and worked in Bertoia’s hands. Large jewelry by Bertoia is very rare. A delight to the eye, this necklace no doubt caused a sensation in its day as it might at the 2022 Met Ball in ours, for like all of Harry Bertoia’s work, it is timeless.” Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, jewelry creator and modern furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo d...

Fabulous and powerful, 1/4hp GM Delco motor. Globe deli meat slicer from the forties. Super quiet motor with a new cord and switch. In excellent vintage co...

Wonderful matched pair, This is one of the most iconic items created by Hector Aguilar in his Taller Borda in the early 1940s. It is featured in Silver Masters of Mexico by Penny Morrill on page 120. She describes the candelabra thusly: “The eye follows the tumbling spirals as though they were lines in relief. Balance and movement coexist as the spirals push upward toward the light of the candles”. What a well-crafted description of this beauty! Made primarily of copper with brass accents, the candelabra's are signed on the base with a conjoined HA on a recessed circle, i It measures 10 ¼ inches long, 6 ½ inches tall, and 2 ¼ inches wide. I have left this stunner unpolished, as many people prefer to retain the rich decades-old patina. – exceptionally rare and hard to find – a work of art by one of the mid century metal Masters...