Harry Bertoia, Sculptor

Harry Bertoia, Sculptor
Author: June Kompass Nelson
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2018-02-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0814343716

The author's own critical analyses of individual pieces are based on direct observations made during trips to the various cities in which Bertoia's sculptures are located.

Alloys

Alloys
Author: Marin R. Sullivan
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0691232466

A new look at the interrelationship of architecture and sculpture during one of the richest periods of American modern design Alloys looks at a unique period of synergy and exchange in the postwar United States, when sculpture profoundly shaped architecture, and vice versa. Leading architects such as Gordon Bunshaft and Eero Saarinen turned to sculptors including Harry Bertoia, Alexander Calder, Richard Lippold, and Isamu Noguchi to produce site-determined, large-scale sculptures tailored for their buildings’ highly visible and well-traversed threshold spaces. The parameters of these spaces—atriums, lobbies, plazas, and entryways—led to various designs like sculptural walls, ceilings, and screens that not only embraced new industrial materials and processes, but also demonstrated art’s ability to merge with lived architectural spaces. Marin Sullivan argues that these sculptural commissions represent an alternate history of midcentury American art. Rather than singular masterworks by lone geniuses, some of the era’s most notable spaces—Philip Johnson’s Four Seasons Restaurant in Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram Building, Max Abramovitz’s Philharmonic Hall at Lincoln Center, and Pietro Belluschi and Walter Gropius’s Pan Am Building—would be diminished without the collaborative efforts of architects and artists. At the same time, the artistic creations within these spaces could not exist anywhere else. Sullivan shows that the principle of synergy provides an ideal framework to assess this pronounced relationship between sculpture and architecture. She also explores the afterlives of these postwar commissions in the decades since their construction. A fresh consideration of sculpture’s relationship to architectural design and functionality following World War II, Alloys highlights the affinities between the two fields and the ways their connections remain with us today.

Bertoia

Bertoia
Author: Beverly H. Twitchell
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2019-04-17
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9780714878072

A celebration of the rich and varied work of Italian-born American artist, designer, and master of metal, Harry Bertoia From chapel altarpieces and bronze fountains, to wire chairs and silver brooches, Harry Bertoia's creative output was varied in the extreme. This new book explores his entire career: his move from Italy to Detroit at 15; his formative years at Cranbrook; his work with Charles Eames and Knoll; through to his fascinating sound sculptures. In doing so, the book demonstrates how seemingly disparate works are in fact united in being reflections of nature, and places Bertoia's art squarely at the heart of American modernism.

Harry Bertoia: Sculptor

Harry Bertoia: Sculptor
Author: June Kompass Nelson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 137
Release: 1970
Genre: ART016020
ISBN: 9780814314029

Harry Bertoia, Sculptor is a long-overdue first book devoted to the life and work of a contemporary Italian-born American artist whose important commissions are located in twenty-five American cities from New York to Seattle and from Minneapolis to Miami. It traces the development of Bertoia's versatile career from his youth in Detroit, beginning with drawings, paintings, and monoprints, then jewelry and furniture designs, to his present-day abstract sculptures in metals, many of architectural proportions. The book includes a biography of the man and detailed descriptions of his methods of working. Many major sculptures and some minor ones are described in detail. They are critically analyzed for their aesthetic components and with regard to the ideas they were intended to express. A large number of photographs supplements the descriptions and analyses. Two appendices give chronologies of the artist's life and of his architectural commissions, the latter being virtually a catalog of Bertoia's major works. Based on several extensive interviews with the artist, as well as on research into his earlier writings, the book includes a presentation of Bertoia's thoughts on aesthetics and on various phases of the art processes he uses. His work is categorized into four major groups representing the four major aesthetic explorations that have interested him most of his life. Reactions to Bertoia's sculptures by his clients, art critics, and the public are presented. Pains were taken to include a sampling of both laudatory and adverse critical reviews, culled from the art press over a twenty-five year period. The author's own critical analyses of individual pieces are based on direct observations made during trips to the various cities in which Bertoia's sculptures are located.

Harry Bertoia, Printmaker

Harry Bertoia, Printmaker
Author: June Kompass Nelson
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2017-12-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0814343708

A representation of the principal styles and themes that emerges from Harry Bertoia’s printmaking and structure work. The seventy-nine monotypes in this catalogue represent the principal styles and themes that emerged not only in Harry Bertoia's printmaking, but in his sculpture as well. June Kompass Nelson, author of Harry Bertoia, Sculptor, analyzes the graphic works and places them in the context of Bertoia's total oeuvre, with particular regard to their relationship with his sculpture. A teacher of metalwork and printmaking at the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Bertoia began working in monotype in 1940—nearly a decade before his first attempts at sculpture—and continually returned to the medium until his death in 1978. Nelson's introduction, biographical material, and well-documented chronology contribute to the portrait of a Michigan artist of international repute who maintained his "regionalist sensibility".

The Life and Work of Harry Bertoia

The Life and Work of Harry Bertoia
Author: Celia Bertoia
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780764346934

The brilliant mid-century modern artist, Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), left a rich legacy of art and design, each with an intriguing history. And yet, while just about everyone has seen the Diamond Chair, few can identify Harry Bertoia as its designer. Even fewer recognize the Bertoia sculptures and other monumental pieces at various public venues. This important volume, illustrated with over 200 revealing photos, allows easy identification and appreciation of Bertoia's work. Written with insights that only a daughter could offer, this impressive book also reveals the complex man behind the fascinating art. Personal letters and family anecdotes offer a deep look into the life and motivations of this profound metal artist. Not only will readers get a peek at the behind-the-scenes skirmishes involved in making art, but will also gain insight into the philosophy as well as technical innovation of this dynamic artist.

Harry Bertoia Monoprints

Harry Bertoia Monoprints
Author: Nancy Schiffer
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780764338502

American sculptor, designer, print artist Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) made thousands of monoprints on rice paper to record his shape ideas. Many ultimately became the basis of sculptures during his forty-year career. Here over 1500 of his fascinating monoprints are presented with their identifying numbers and dimensions. The importance of these artworks to Bertoia's career is acknowledged. Contributions to the text from Bertoia's children present their feelings when they see these astounding images and recall the years of enthusiastic discussions with their father. The book adds an important volume to references about Harry Bertoia's work, which includes sculpture as commissions for institutions throughout America.

A Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota

A Guide to the Architecture of Minnesota
Author: David Gebhard
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 494
Release: 1978
Genre:
ISBN: 9781452901015

Traces Minnesota's architectural development in eight regions of the state from territorial days to the present and outlines tours of the state's landmarks. A perfect companion for sight-seeing trips.

Lists

Lists
Author: Liza Kirwin
Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2010-03-15
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781568988887

From the weekly shopping list to the Ten Commandments, our lives are shaped by lists. Whether dashed off as a quick reminder, or carefully constructed as an inventory, this humble form of documentation provides insight into its maker's personal habits and decision-making processes. This is especially true for artists, whose day-to-day acts of living and art-making overlap and inform each other. Artists' lists shed uncover a host of unbeknownst motivations, attitudes, and opinions about their work and the work of others. Lists presents almost seventy artifacts, including "to do" lists, membership lists, lists of paintings sold, lists of books to read, lists of appointments made and met, lists of supplies to get, lists of places to see, and lists of people who are "in." At times introspective, humorous, and resolute, but always revealing and engaging, Lists is a unique firsthand account of American cultural history that augments the personal biographies of some of the most celebrated and revered artists of thelast two centuries. Many of the lists are historically important, throwing a flood of light on a moment, movement, or event; others are private, providing an intimate view of an artist's personal life: Pablo Picasso itemized his recommendations for the Armory Show in 1912; architect Eero Saarinen enumerated the good qualities of the then New York Times art editor and critic Aline Bernstein, his second wife; sculptor Alexander Calder's address book reveals the whos who of the Parisian avant-garde in the early twentieth century. In the hands of their creators, these artifacts become works of art in and of themselves. Lists includes rarely seen specimens by Vito Acconci, Leo Castelli, Joseph Cornell, Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Lee Krasner, H. L. Mencken, Robert Motherwell, Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, Robert Rauschenberg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Andrew Wyeth.

Paul Evans

Paul Evans
Author: Jeffrey Head
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2012
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780764341663

Raised as a Quaker in Eastern Pennsylvania, designer and sculptor Paul Evans is known for his highly unusual and yet completely functional furniture designs. Evans produced more than a dozen lines of furniture and countless design variations during his thirty-year career as a mid- to late 20th century artist and designer. Regardless of his materials, whether metal, wood, or even cardboard, his work continues to defy easy categorization. It is modern and yet independent of recognizable influences. Other designers and manufacturers openly copied his work, though these copies lacked the presence Evans easily achieved. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Evans employed nearly ninety people. Several museums and galleries exhibited his work, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Today, his work is sought by collectors, who value its style and quality. His unusual furniture and sculpture stand the test of time and are displayed here in over 220 vivid photos. It appears classic and contemporary at the same time. This book will be treasured by all who have a passion for design.