Modern and Contemporary Art

Of his Tonal Sound Sculptures, Harry Bertoia said: “The idea is to see how close I can get to what appears to be another farther reality or a reality which has not yet come within my sense...It’s a plunge into new dimensions but there are also echoes of the past. Sometimes, when I hear the sounds, they remind me of times that are gone...and in many cases they will invite me on toward things that have not quite unfolded.” [1] Born out of accident and experimentation, Bertoia’s sound sculptures, like the present 65-inch-high example, engage all the senses, producing physical vibrations that can be felt in the body. Bertoia made thousands of sound sculptures, with thinner and thicker wire, different materials, varying sizes and shapes of cylinders on top, all in the search of new sounds and experiences. The artist hosted small concerts of his “Sonambient Collection” in his barn studio in Pennsylvania for friends and guests, and recorded eleven albums of the sounds from his sculptures, capturing the deep, powerful and wildly different reverberations of his pieces. One can imagine the rich soundscape of the barn as one after another sculpture resonated and filled the air with its luxuriant tones.Best known for his large public sculptures and fountains throughout the United States, Harry Bertoia grew up in Italy, moving to the Detroit area at age 15 to pursue his study of art. After a year at the School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, Bertoia received a scholarship to the Cranbook Academy where he made formative friendships with Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen. The school's director Eliel Saarinen asked Bertoia to restart a metal working program at the school where the artist's early experimentation in jewelry-making set him on a new path. Bertoia moved to California in 1943 with Charles Eames and began working on early iterations of "ergonomics"(although the term was not coined yet) and helped with war efforts in making airplane parts. Here he began making sculptures in the evenings in his spare time, as well as continuing the monotype printmaking he had begun in his student days. Bertoia and his young family stayed in California for a few years before moving to Bally, Pennsylvania at the request of Hans and Florence Knoll (Florence was also a classmate at Cranbrook) to design chairs for their furniture business. His designs earned him immense popularity and granted him the income to begin pursuing his sculpture in earnest.[1] Marc Masters, “Sculptures you can hear: Why Harry Bertoia’s ‘Sonambient’ art still resonates,” Washington Post [online], March 27, 2015.