Harry Bertoia: A Homecoming

Harry Bertoia (1915–1978) was one of the most imaginative artists and designers of the twentieth century. Harry Bertoia: A Homecoming is a monographic survey of the artist’s work, from his abstract monoprints, organic jewelry, and innovative wire furniture to his freestanding metal sculptures, large-scale commissions, and groundbreaking sounding sculptures.

The exhibition celebrates the 90th anniversary of Bertoia’s arrival at Cranbrook Academy of Art (1937–1943), first as a student and later as an instructor of metalsmithing and printmaking. The artist arrived in Detroit as a teenager from his native Italy, studying at Cass Technical High School and the Detroit Society of Arts & Crafts (now College for Creative Studies) before attending Cranbrook. Bertoia’s far-ranging interests and work across diverse media are exemplary of the Academy’s interdisciplinary spirit of experimentation.

A focal point of the exhibition will be an installation of twenty-four sounding sculptures once housed in the Sonambient Barn in Barto, Pennsylvania, where Bertoia assembled his orchestra of sculptures in the last decade of his life. During the exhibition, these sounding sculptures will be activated for the public at select times by musicians and composers.