Harry Bertoia Untitled Patinated Bronze Welded Rod Sculpture, USA 1970s
View Similar Items
Harry Bertoia Untitled Patinated Bronze Welded Rod Sculpture, USA 1970s
About the Item
- Creator:Harry Bertoia (Artist)
- Dimensions:Height: 7 in (17.78 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)Depth: 7 in (17.78 cm)
- Materials and Techniques:Bronze,Patinated
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1970s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU80481463932
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 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.
- 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 - Brutalist Welded Nails Sculpture by Harry BertoiaBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NYAbstract Brutalist Nails Sculpture by Harry Bertoia, circa 1950s.Category
Vintage 1950s American Brutalist Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsMetal
- Harry Bertoia Bush SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NY"Untitled" (Bush) Sculpture by Harry Bertoia, circa 1970's made of welded bronze. Harry Bertoia, was an Italian-born American artist, sound art sculptor, an...Category
Vintage 1970s American Brutalist Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
$190,575 - 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
- Harry Bertoia Gilt Bronze, Brass and Steel Dandelion SculptureBy Harry BertoiaLocated in New York, NYBertoia's Dandelion form is widely regarded to be the apex of his career. An overwhelming physical presence is balanced by its truly delicate nature. A gilt bronze central sphere is ...Category
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsGranite, Brass, Bronze
- 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
- Unique Welded and Patinated Bronze Sculpture by Harry BertoiaBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Atlanta, GAA unique bronze sculpture displayed on a granite stone base circa 1973 by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), the celebrated Italian-born American artist, sculptor, and designer. The welded a...Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Harry Bertoia Melt Pressed Bronze Figural Sculpture, 1970sBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Dallas, TXA figurative vertical form with two protrusions on top constructed of melt pressed bronze (heated numerous times, squeezed, and shaped. Includes provenance and hand-signed COA from t...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Unique Welded Bronze Sculpture Rare Figurative Form Harry BertoiaBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Atlanta, GAA unique bronze sculpture circa 1960s by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), the celebrated Italian-born American artist, sculptor, and designer. The welded and patinated bronze sculpture is ...Category
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Original Harry Bertoia Sculpture "SPRAWLING BRONZE"By Harry BertoiaLocated in Dallas, TXOriginal "Sprawling Bronze" by Harry Bertoia (1915-1978). Rare molten bronze spill cast with three feet to make it free-standing. Green patina adds to the organic feel of the sculp...Category
Late 20th Century American Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
- Harry Bertoia bronzeBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Dallas, TXAmerican Mid-century artist Harry Bertoia would spend his daylight hours working on the monumental public projects for which he is so well known. In the evenings though, after dinner...Category
Vintage 1970s American Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
$28,000 - Harry Bertoia bronzeBy Harry BertoiaLocated in Dallas, TXAmerican Mid-century artist Harry Bertoia would spend his daylight hours working on the monumental public projects for which he is so well known. In the evenings though, after dinner...Category
Vintage 1970s Abstract Sculptures
MaterialsBronze
$28,000