Harry Bertoia

Sacramento Estate
Arts220, Winnetka, Illinois
Acquired from the above by the present owners, 1997

Celia Bertoia, The Life and Work of Harry Bertoia: The Man, The Artist, The Visionary, Atglen, PA, 2015, p. 100 (for a related form)

The present work exemplifies Harry Bertoia’s proficiency in combining his appreciation for nature with a delicate crafting of metal. Finding harmony between the fullness of organic matter and the hardness of alloy materials, Bertoia sought to produce sculptural works that could peacefully exist within an outdoor landscape. His move to rural Pennsylvania from California in the 1950s further inspired this interest in the natural world, yielding a number of multi-dimensional panel sculptures. Standing at over five feet tall, the present work demonstrates the sculptor’s experimentation with metallic renderings of flora and fauna, as well as his investigation into the vastness of the universe. The rare circular arrangement of panels allows viewers to engage with the sculpture from several vantage points, while the various sizes of each panel create a dynamism that mimics the flow of wind throughout the leaves and branches of a tree. Through its abstract composition, Golden Tree is imbued with a poetic ambiguity, inspiring inquisitiveness and reflection amongst all who encounter it.