day 317 – four Harry Bertoia early sculptures
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: mary thorp, Uncategorized | Tags: 1950's, art, Harry Bertoia, heart, love, Mary Thorp, metal, nature, sculpture Leave a comment »Am surprised this week has gone so quickly.
These Bertoia sculptures are from the 1950′s.
What do you see in these? How do they relate to Harry’s later sculptures?
I have been locating & documenting all Bertoia sculptures since 1998 in preparation for a Catalogue Raisonne`. Someone asked me what’s my favorite sculpture. I realized every sculpture counts equally for me. I’m excited every time I find a new sculpture. Others are more critical of different sculptures. My job is to locate every piece he did so I don’t give any one sculpture more weight than another.
Do I have a favorite? …A favorite? No way. I suppose my favorites are my first pieces, the ones that made this project possible. I also really like the sculptures I showed yesterday, the ones with welded rods like the fountain maquettes. There are others I love but there’s no particular theme. I’d say the vibration in the piece is more what I’m attracted to.
If you have a sculpture or know someone who does, please contact me so it can be registered with the Harry Bertoia Research Project.
www.hbrp.net
This week has been a fabulous adventure for me. Thanks for reading this . . . .
day 316 – four Harry Bertoia fountain maquettes
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: mary thorp | Tags: art, fountain, Harry Bertoia, heart, love, Mary Thorp, metal, nature, photo, sculpture Leave a comment »
I love these metal creations. They were done by Bertoia as models for fountains he was commissioned to make. The fine metal rods are welded together & shaped. The full-size fountains range in size from 6′ high to 13 ’ high x 14′ structures and made of different-sized hollow copper tubing bent & welded to match the lines of the maquette. It was really fun seeing the Philadelphia Civic Center scupture move through the city streets on a rig going to another location.
I visited the Marshall University Memorial Fountain in Huntington, WV. I will always remember walking on the sidewalk, seeing the fountain come into view. It took my breath away, like seeing a long-lost-friend. I spent several hours with it, photographing it from every angle and in different natural lighting settings, watching the light play on it as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon.
And, the day I drove into foggy Buffalo, NY, into the M&T Bank Plaza, I was dazzled by the sculpture in the oval fountain. The sculpture was one of 7 commissioned by Minuro Yamasaki for buildings around the country. I was on my way home from a 6 week trip to Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Detroit where I’d been doing research and photographing pieces. I had only a short time there so I took photos of the sculpture in the fog. I was dubious about them turning out. They are, in fact, some of my favorites.
I was rushing back to Philadelphia to see my son race in the Dad Vale Regatta on the Schuylkill River. He rowed for Roman Catholic High School. I arrived as he was crossing the finish line in first place, just in time to photograph the awards ceremony.
All good.
