Bertoia at 100 – Celebrate the legacy of the designer and sculptor

Portraits of Harry Bertoia from a photograph contact sheet for Knoll publicity materials.

 



 

2015 marks the centennial celebration of the world-renowned sculptor and designer Harry Bertoia. Bertoia was a complete and gifted artist. Knoll historian Brian Lutz said, "Bertoia’s paintings were better than his sculptures. And his sculptures were better than his furniture. And his furniture was absolutely brilliant."

Bertoia was born in Italy, in 1915. When he was fifteen he moved with his family to Canada and then on to Michigan. In 1939 he was awarded a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He began to teach there, establishing a workshop for metalwork and jewelry making.

The Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan is hosting an exhibition of Bertoia’s jewelry through the end of November 2015.

 

In the 1940s Harry Bertoia concentrated entirely on furniture making and 1950 was the beginning of Bertoia’s collaboration with Florence and Hans Knoll, whose acquaintance he had made at Cranbrook Academy. Harry Bertoia’s first chair design for Knoll, the Model 420 Diamond Chair, featuring molded mesh of chromium-plated steel wire, was an immediate best seller.

The graceful Diamond Chair, 1952, is an astounding study in space, form and function. Like Saarinen and Mies, Bertoia found sublime grace in an industrial material, elevating it beyond its normal utility into a work of art.

 

Harry Bertoia's 1952 delicately industrial Side Chair is among the most recognized achievements of mid-century modern design.

 

Bertoia spent the next 25 years of his life experimenting with light, sound and volume through sculptures, paintings and architectural installations.

Black & white photographs of Harry Bertoia's Sonambient Sculptures. Photo: Knoll

 

Bertoia’s Sonambient Sculptures, which structurally emulate the forms of wheat fields, willow trees, dandelions, and cattails, attest to his life-long appreciation of music (he counted Vivaldi and Mozart among his favorite composers).

Today Knoll carries on Harry Bertoia’s legacy of innovation, inspiration, and beauty with the Bertoia collection, which has been in continuous production around the world since its introduction.

In 2005 Knoll introduced the Asymmetric Lounge, a design from Bertoia’s initial 1952 experimentation that had never reached production.

 

Celebrate 100 years of Harry Bertoia and his enduring legacy at GRShop.com

Customers in the USA can purchase many of GRShop's products at ModernPlanet.com and receive the same great customer service and free shipping.