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Extremely RareHarry Bertoia Necklace Sterling Silver Lapis Coral ca. 1940

$65,000
£49,231.46
€56,540.64
CA$91,086.26
A$99,029.13
CHF 52,505.36
MX$1,187,108.13
NOK 667,316.13
SEK 611,352.30
DKK 422,569.68

About the Item

Extremely rare combination pendant attached to custom-made chain by Harry Bertoia in sterling silver, containing one Lapis Lazuli and one Coral. This piece comes from a private collection. Provenance will accompany the piece. The work has been added to the Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné and assigned the following catalogue raisonné number: D.JE.78. Although associated with Mid-Century Modern furniture, Harry Bertoia was originally a jewelry designer who used both sterling silver, precious stones and gem stones. The pendant measures: 1.25" long x 1" wide. The necklace measures: 11" length with a measurement of 22" overall length. The chain and closure are all handcrafted and in his unique design. Lapis Lazuli measures 20mm round supported by one 6 mm red coral. Total weight is 33 grams. The following is from Beverly H. Twitchell, PhD, author of Bertoia: The Metalworker, London: Phaidon, 2019. She provides a very informative critique of Bertoia and his jewelry. Wearable Art an Important Design for a Necklace “Before Harry Bertoia enrolled at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1937 he had already mastered traditional jewelers’ techniques, but his engagement with Modernism led him to invent and use more direct methods. Instead of precious metals and gems, Bertoia made jewelry that appealed through its design, craftsmanship and the nature of its materials. That approach would make Bertoia a direct predecessor of the American Studio Crafts movement. So complex and cumulative are human perception and memory that we often do not know from where our own ideas come and without firm evidence, it is impossible to think we can establish the origins of an artist’s ideas. While his jewelry is entirely modern, chokers with multiple small pendants had come from ancient Mediterranean cultures: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Italy, even from Europe and America at the turn of the last century. Did Bertoia see works in books, journals or at the Detroit Institute of Arts that resonated with him or did he invent this on his own, as he would so many other forms? Bertoia found inspiration in nature from an early age on a small farm in Italy and later in Cranbrook’s woods, on the beaches of southern California and in the fields near his home in eastern Pennsylvania where he lived after 1950. The fluidity and motion of the his jewelry characterize much of his art. In that spirit, too, he made jewelry that suited human anatomy and was animated by its wearer’s movement. Bertoia had the instincts of an engineer, as the intricacy of the present lot’s clasp and overall construction of the jewelry demonstrates. Large jewelry by Bertoia is very rare. A delight to the eye, and like all of Bertoia’s work it is timeless.” Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) was an Italian-born American artist, jewelry creator and modern furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo d-Arzene, Pordenone, Italy. At age 15 he moved to Detroit, Michigan to live with his older brother, Oreste. He quickly learned English and the bus schedule and enrolled in Cass Tech High School in Detroit (1930-1936) where he studied art and design and learned the skill of handmade jewelry making. At that time, there were three jewelry and metals teachers Louise Green, Mary Davis and Greta Pack. After graduating in 1936 he attended the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts now known as the College for Creative Studies. In 1937 he received a scholarship to study at the Cranbrook Academy of Art where he encountered Walter Gropius, Edmund N. Bacon, Ray and Charles Eames and Florence Knoll for the first time. In 2019, the Harry Bertoia Foundation launched a Catalogue Raisonne project, which seeks to document and research the diverse and extensive artistic practice of the artist. The goal is to provide a comprehensive record and resource of Bertoia’s work, and will include his painting, graphics (including monotypes), furniture, jewelry, metal work, sound recordings, and sculpture. An ongoing project, the Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonne will be available online, published in stages and regularly updated to reflect ongoing research. Bertoia received a scholarship to The Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It was designed by architect and faculty member, Eliel Saarinen who collaborated with Charles and Ray Eames on chair and furniture design. It is the country’s top ranked, graduate-only program in architecture, design and fine art. Each year, just 75 students are invited to study and live on the landmark Saarinen-designed campus in Bloomfield Hills, which features: private studios, state-of-the art workshops, the renowned Cranbrook Art Museum and 300 acres of forests, lakes and streams, all a short drive from the city of Detroit. The focus at Cranbrook is on studio practice in one of ten disciplines including Architecture, 2D and 3D Design, Ceramics, Fiber, Metalsmithing, Painting, Photography, Print Media, and Sculpture. The program is anchored by celebrated Artists- and Designers-in-Residence, one for each discipline, all of whom live and practice on campus alongside the graduate students. Numerous creative artists who are alumni of Cranbrook include: Florence Knoll, Jack Lenor Larsen, Donald Lipski, Duane Hanson, Nick Cave, Hani Rashid, George Nelson, Urban Jupena (Nationally recognized fiber artist), Artis Lane (the first African-American artist to have her sculpture, "Sojourner Truth," commissioned for the Emancipation Hall in the Capital Visitor Center in Washington DC), Cory Puhlman (televised Pastry Chef extraordinaire), Thom O’Connor (Lithographs), Paul Evans (Brutalist-inspired sculpted metal furnishings), Eugene Caples (small bronze images/abstract), Morris Brose (Bronze Sculptures), Herb Babcock (blown glass), Larry Butcher (mixed media), Lauren Anais Hussey (Abstract), and Andrea Eis (film, photography).

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