Harry Bertoia Sonambient Sculpture, ca. 1965
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GUEST:
I brought this sculpture. It's sort of like a wind chime, it makes noise. It was from my parents. When my father died, it was always at their house. And then, after my mother died many years later, my brothers and I divided things up.
APPRAISER:
Mm-hmm.
GUEST:
And my mother always thought that my dad had made it. And when it was time to divide things up, my brothers weren't interested, and I, being an art teacher, I was interested. And so, I got it. And then one year, I saw something similar on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, and I wrote down the name and I looked him up on the internet and... My cousin and I applied for these tickets, thinking that if I got here, I would bring the sculpture. (laughs) I had it on my porch, and my dogs, their tail would hit it, and it would make noise. And my cousin kept saying, "You have it on the porch? You better get it off the porch." And finally I said, "It's off the porch." (chuckles)
APPRAISER:
The artist is Harry Bertoia, and he was actually an Italian artist that came to the U.S. in 1930. He was born in 1915, so he was just a teenager.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And he came to Detroit and was awarded a scholarship to the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He eventually moved to Barto, Pennsylvania. He opened a big studio there in a barn, and he also took a job designing chairs for Florence Knoll. So, he was originally really known as a furniture designer. That's how he kind of made a living.
GUEST:
Oh.
APPRAISER:
And that's what people first recognized him for. However, over time, it's really his sculptures that have become quite important, and that's what he's best known for. This is made of beryllium copper. It's most likely from the mid-1960s, which is when he was doing this type of work. And this is from his "Sonambient" series. He did make a lot in this series, we don't know the exact number. I would guess somewhere in the high hundreds to low thousands. They all vary. Some of them are much shorter. There are some taller, different configurations. There's kind of three components that are really interesting. It's first and foremost a visual work of art. It's visually stunning, it's very exact and precise.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
Which is what Bertoia was all about. This form-- which he did over and over again, of these beryllium rods-- really took inspiration from the wheat fields that he experienced...
GUEST:
Oh, ah.
APPRAISER:
...when he was a boy in Italy. Many of them are just the straight rods. This actually has the wider rod at the top.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
They're often called cattails.
GUEST:
That's what I thought, cattails.
APPRAISER:
And that actually makes this quite desirable. But it's also a kinetic sculpture.
GUEST:
Yes.
APPRAISER:
Because it moves, and in that way, it also relates to the wheat, as if it were sort of swaying. Just a little breeze can hit it, and it will start to move, which is quite lovely.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
And finally, it's also a sound sculpture. And so, when you strike the work, or you move your fingers across the rods, it makes a noise.
GUEST:
Hmm.
APPRAISER:
He began to make recordings of these sculptures.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, and actually, just in 2016, the Bertoia estate reissued an album that he made of these recordings. So, this piece is not signed. Most of his sculptures were not signed. He believed that the art was the signature itself. And it certainly is in this case. This is classic Bertoia, you can't mistake it for anything else. And we see all the components are exactly as he made them in these sculptures. He felt that his art was part of the universe, and that's really what was important. And he didn't want to put his name on it and make it about himself. If you just run your hands across it, it makes a lovely sound. (rods chiming) Well, this-size work, a 'Sonambient" sculpture by Harry Bertoia, at auction, we would estimate this today at $20,000 to $30,000.
GUEST:
Wow, pretty good. Almost getting choked up. That's pretty exciting.
APPRAISER:
Those kind of heavier rods on the top keep it moving a little longer and make a sound that's a bit louder.
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