Harry Bertoia – Unfolding (1993)

Country: Italy / United States

Tracklist

1. #1025 Unfolding 18:35
2. #1025 Sounds Beyond 15:02
3. #1032 Here And Now 21:04
4. #1032 Here And Now Part II 13:06

Arri Bertoia (March 10, 1915 – November 6, 1978) was an Italian-born American artist,

sound art sculptor, and modern furniture designer.
Bertoia was born in the small village of San Lorenzo, Friuli, Italy.
At age 15, given the opportunity to move to Detroit, and live with his older brother, Oreste.
Upon entering North America, his nickname of Arieto (little Arri) was altered to the Americanized Harry.
After learning English and the bus schedule, he enrolled in Cass Technical High School,

where he studied art and design and learned the skill of handmade jewelry making.
In 1936 he attended the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, now known as the College for Creative Studies.
The following year 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 1939 after reopening the metal workshop, he began to focus his efforts on jewelry making,

even designing and creating wedding rings for Ray Eames and Edmund Bacon's wife Ruthtaught,

as the war effort made metal a rare and very expensive commodity.
When all the metal was taken up by war efforts, he became the graphics instructor.
Still at Cranbrook, in 1943 he married Brigitta Valentiner, and then moved to California

to work for Charles and Ray at the Molded Plywood Division of the Evans Product Company.
Bertoia also learned welding techniques at Santa Monica College and began experimenting with sound sculptures.
He worked there until 1946, then sold his jewelry and monotypes and worked with the Electronics Naval Lab in La Jolla.

In 1950, he was invited to move to Pennsylvania to work with Hans and Florence Knoll.

During this period he designed five wire pieces that became known as the Bertoia Collection for Knoll. 

Among these was the famous diamond chair, a fluid, sculptural form made from a welded lattice work of steel.
In his own words, "If you look at these chairs, they are mainly made of air, like sculpture. Space passes right through them."
The commercial success enjoyed by Bertoia's diamond chair was immediate.

It was only in 2005 that his asymmetrical chaise longue was introduced at the Milan Furniture Fair and sold out immediately.
In the 1960s, he began experimenting with sounding sculptures of tall vertical rods on flat bases.

He renovated the old barn into an atypical concert hall and put in about 100 of his favorite "Sonambient" sculptures.
Their sizes vary from a few inches all the way up to twenty feet tall.

Many metals were used for the rods, the most common being beryllium copper

known for its wide range of color variations and rich tones.

Some rods are capped with cylinders or drops of metal, resembling cattails,

which, by their weight, accentuate the swaying of the tonal rods and creating deep resonant tones.
Bertoia often recorded his sound experiments using overhead microphones and a 1/4" tape recorder.
He played the pieces in a number of concerts and even produced a series of eleven albums, all entitled "Sonambient,"

of the music made by his art, manipulated by his hands along with the elements of nature.
In 2016, these "Sonambient" recordings were re-issued by Important Records 

as a box set with a booklet of the history and previously unseen photos.
Three major documentaries featuring the barn and other pieces were released about Bertoia.
Learning of the dismal diagnosis of cancer in 1976 caused Bertoia to work furiously on organizing his monotypes,

perfecting the tonal barn collection, and putting his life’s work in order.

He had produced probably tens of thousands of pieces of art during his short life.

His work had consumed most of his time, much of his passion, and ultimately all of his energy.

The toxic fumes such as from the beryllium copper he so loved contributed to the lung cancer.

Yet, his death was peaceful, he felt complete, and he accepted dying as simply one more transitional part of life.

Harry Bertoia died at age 63 on November 6th, 1978 in his home,

and was buried beneath a giant gong behind his Sonambient barn.
The compilation "Unfolding" features two of the eleven albums of the "Sonambient" series,

"Unfolding / Sounds Beyond" and "Here And Now / Unknown" that was originally released on vinyl in 1978.

Memory