Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) was an Italian-born American sculptor, printmaker, and jewelry and furniture designer best known for his monumental architectural sculptures and classic 1952 Bertoia Diamond chair.
Bertoia attended the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and taught painting and metalworking there from 1937 to 1943. While at Cranbrook he experimented with printmaking and created a large collection of monoprints. In 1943 Bertoia worked with designers Charles and Ray Eames, whom he had met at Cranbrook, before joining Knoll Associates in New York City in 1950. In his lifetime, Bertoia crafted over 50 public sculptures that are installed at institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Philadelphia Civic Center, and Dulles International Airport. Some of his later works, the sonambient or sounding sculptures, were designed to be activated by the wind or by hand to produce pleasing metallic or airy sound patterns.
|
|
|