Modern Oak and Steel Knoll Slated Bench Attributed to Harry Bertoia
View Similar Items
Modern Oak and Steel Knoll Slated Bench Attributed to Harry Bertoia
About the Item
- Creator:Knoll (Maker),Harry Bertoia (Designer)
- Design:
- Dimensions:Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)Width: 66 in (167.64 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)Seat Height: 18 in (45.72 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:20th Century
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very nice condition.
- Seller Location:Toledo, OH
- Reference Number:Seller: ap192121stDibs: LU1658217574051
Bertoia Bench
Simple, straightforward and unassuming in its clever design, the Bertoia bench is a hallmark mid-century modern piece. Harry Bertoia (1915–78) was an Italian-American sculptor, jewelry designer and furniture maker who developed his famous bench for Knoll in 1952. Made of slatted wood set atop a chrome-plated welded steel frame, the bench was Bertoia’s first product for Knoll, who granted him creative freedom when he joined the company’s studio in 1950. While the piece does not represent Bertoia’s now-famous signature wire-lattice style, it does hint at the sculptural quality that characterizes all of his work.
Before arriving at Knoll, Bertoia studied painting at Cranbrook Academy of Art. He eventually became a faculty member there, working alongside Eliel Saarinen, Walter Gropius and others. Bertoia eventually left the academy for California to help Charles and Ray Eames perfect the design of an award-winning chair that Charles had worked on with Eero Saarinen while at Cranbrook. It was thanks to Bertoia’s breakthrough welding contributions and innovations with plywood that cleared a path to mass production for both the chair and other wood-laminate furniture. However, the Eameses failed to credit Bertoia once the chair hit the market, thus ending the trio’s working relationship. A few years later, Bertoia joined the Knoll studio at the behest of his former Cranbrook classmate, Florence Knoll, and there he produced the bench as well as the beloved Diamond chair. Sculptural and versatile, the Bertoia bench can also be used as a coffee table. It is still manufactured by Knoll today.
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.
- Vintage Italian Carved Oak Hall BenchLocated in Toledo, OHVintage Italian Carved Oak hall bench. Circa 1890s. Beautifully well carved oak bench with carved lions at the top. Center panel depicts a Knight sl...Category
Antique 1890s Benches
MaterialsOak
$3,700 Sale Price37% Off - Mid-Century Modern Chrome BenchLocated in Toledo, OHMid-century modern chrome bench. Nice architectural bench of chrome-plated steel. Minor surface scratches. 2 available. 46 1/2" long x 15" deep x 17" high.Category
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Modern Sculptural Bench Clad in Scored Brown Leather by Karl SpringerBy Karl SpringerLocated in Toledo, OHMid-Century Modern sculptural bench clad in brown scored leather by Karl Springer. Very good condition. Dimensions: 18" depth x 44" W x 22" H, seat height 16.5".Category
20th Century American Modern Benches
MaterialsLeather
$2,000 Sale Price69% Off - Baker Stately Homes Collection Neoclassical Ebonized and Gold BenchBy Baker Furniture CompanyLocated in Toledo, OHBaker Stately Homes Collection Neoclassical ebonized and gold bench. Circa 1940-1949. Baker Furniture Regency bench from the Stately Hom...Category
Mid-20th Century Regency Benches
MaterialsEbony, Giltwood
- Baker Mahogany Hall BenchLocated in Toledo, OHBeautiful French style Baker bench. The bench is mahogany with upholstered seat and two pillows. The sides have an X design with medallion centers. Great condition with minor wear. 5...Category
Vintage 1960s American Benches
MaterialsMahogany
$2,400 / item - Carved Chinese Dragon Head BenchLocated in Toledo, OHVery heavily carved dark wood Chinese dragon head bench. Chinese pheasants carved into the back. Very good condition. Light wear. Dimensions: 24" d...Category
20th Century Unknown Chinese Export Benches
MaterialsWood
- Slat Bench by Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Chicago, ILc. 1970s. Wood slat bench with metal legs. Tagged.Category
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsMetal
- Mid-Century Slat Bench by Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in BROOKLYN, NYWonderful mid-century slat bench or coffee table by Harry Bertoia for Knoll, 1950s. Stained ash. Early original Bowtie Label (Knoll Associates) that predates Knoll International. Has...Category
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel
- 1950s Harry Bertoia for Knoll Associates Model 400 Bench in Oak with Black BaseBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Philadelphia, PAListed for sale is an iconic slatted oak bench designed by Harry Bertoia and produced by Knoll. It dates to circa 1952. This piece was constructed using solid oak wood for the top an...Category
Vintage 1950s American Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel
- Harry Bertoia Bench 400 Knoll International Mid Century Coffee TableBy Harry Bertoia, KnollLocated in Berlin, BEThis design by Harry Bertoia for Hans and Florence Knoll is an icon of mid-century modern design. Straightforward and simple but still unmistakable. The base has been kept in origina...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Mid 20th Century Modern Model 400 Bench by Harry Bertoia for KnollBy Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Brugge, BE1960s Model 400 USA Teak and steel 38.5cm high, 167cm wide, 47cm deep Born in Italy in 1915, Harry Bertoia became a prominent sculptor and furniture designer in the United Stat...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Benches
MaterialsSteel
- Harry Bertoia, Bench Model 400By Knoll, Harry BertoiaLocated in Firenze, ITHarry Bertoia Bench Model 400 Bench model 400 designed by Harry Bertoia, metal legs and wooden slatted seat. Manufactured by Knoll International, USA, late 1950s Bibliography: S. Ro...Category
Vintage 1950s Benches
MaterialsMetal