Important Design
Important Design
Property of a New York Collector
Untitled (Multi-Plane Construction)
Auction Closed
June 9, 06:24 PM GMT
Estimate
120,000 - 180,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property of a New York Collector
Harry Bertoia
Untitled (Multi-Plane Construction)
circa 1959
nickel alloy-coated steel
67 x 24¼ x 16¼ in. (170.2 x 61.6 x 41.3 cm)
Sculpture was the means by which artist Harry Bertoia expressed his contemplation of nature, spirituality and the cosmos. Embracing the boundlessness and mystery inherent in these themes and concepts, Bertoia permitted interpretation and poetic ambiguity even in the presentation of his works, encouraging the collector to display his sculpture the way it resonated with them most. Nature was not only Harry Bertoia’s greatest inspiration and muse, it played an active role in the presentation of his work. He saw no contradiction between the hardness of metal, his preferred medium, and the lushness of the natural world. By displaying many of his sculptures outdoors, his abstract, metallic interpretations of nature became integrated with the landscape through their interaction with the elements. His wire and multi-plane sculptures of the 1960s such as the present lot, an impressively large example of the form, are among his most complex investigations of the universe. Intersecting wires incorporating square elements are welded together, culminating in a dense mass of ordered chaos. While the sculpture’s delicate composition invites close inspection, its imposing stature demands distance to behold the vastness of its form in its entirety. The beauty and complexity of the present lot distinguish it as a masterwork within Bertoia’s prolific body of work.