Harry Bertoia - Sonambient

Harry Bertoia was born on March 10, 1915 in San Lorenzo, Udine, Italy.

In 1960 Harry Bertoia started the exploration of tonal sculptures. The first ones were made like a stool upside down and each rod was soldered on a cross mesh screen, a very labor intensive technique. The "tonal" is the sculpture that is most often associated with Harry Bertoia.Their sizes vary from a few inches all the way to 19 feet. Many metals were used for the rods, the most common being beryllium copper. Some rods are capped with cylinders or drops of metal which, by their weight, accentuate the swaying of the tonal rods. Harry and Oreste (his brother)loved music and spend considerable time in tuning and finding new sounds. more