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Lot Essay
"Wire forms have a great range of expression. Their constructions pertain to space rather than ground, and their configurations can be light, airy, almost floating."
– Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia's Spray series incorporates many of the naturalistic themes and formal elements that define the artist's oeuvre. Densely composed and rigorously structured, these Spray sculptures possess a notable robustness while retaining the artist’s signature sense of airy lightness. The present work embodies a forest of upright wires, embedded into a stone base, creating intricate rhythmic patterns and subtle movements characteristic of Bertoia’s sculptural language.
Working in wire - one of his principal mediums for investigating the intersection of nature and form - Bertoia embraced its immediacy and adaptability. As he noted, “Wire is easy to work with, easy to experiment with. It can be flexed and formed quickly, by hand, allowing almost immediate visual inspection of the form of an idea.” This responsiveness enabled him to explore organic structures with both precision and spontaneity. He later reflected that, “Good design takes advantage of all the developments in technical facilities and materials. It accepts and uses the findings and revelations of other men. Yet good design's essential response is toward nature...To natural forms and tendencies that the designer perceives and reacts to, even stumbles on in his investigations of an idea ” - a philosophy clearly embodied in the present work, which captures both the vitality and underlying order of natural forms.
– Harry Bertoia
Harry Bertoia's Spray series incorporates many of the naturalistic themes and formal elements that define the artist's oeuvre. Densely composed and rigorously structured, these Spray sculptures possess a notable robustness while retaining the artist’s signature sense of airy lightness. The present work embodies a forest of upright wires, embedded into a stone base, creating intricate rhythmic patterns and subtle movements characteristic of Bertoia’s sculptural language.
Working in wire - one of his principal mediums for investigating the intersection of nature and form - Bertoia embraced its immediacy and adaptability. As he noted, “Wire is easy to work with, easy to experiment with. It can be flexed and formed quickly, by hand, allowing almost immediate visual inspection of the form of an idea.” This responsiveness enabled him to explore organic structures with both precision and spontaneity. He later reflected that, “Good design takes advantage of all the developments in technical facilities and materials. It accepts and uses the findings and revelations of other men. Yet good design's essential response is toward nature...To natural forms and tendencies that the designer perceives and reacts to, even stumbles on in his investigations of an idea ” - a philosophy clearly embodied in the present work, which captures both the vitality and underlying order of natural forms.