Bertoia completed over 50 Public Commissions throughout the country and internationally.

Eero Saarinen gave Bertoia his first chance to create sculpture on a monumental scale, hiring him for the General Motors Technical Center screen in 1953. The 36’ long metal screen launched the sculptor on a consistent path of largely successful pieces for architectural projects.

Bertoia won numerous architectural and artistic awards for public sculptures throughout his career. When asked for which sculpture he received the AIA award, he replied, “I don’t recall which one it was… I really don’t pay much attention to these awards, they come and they go. I completely forgot.”

The Philadelphia Civic Center fountain piece, installed in 1967 and removed in 2000 when the building was demolished, has recently been relocated at Woodmere Art Museum in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia. It was a happy day to free the 4-ton sculpture from a police storage shed and onto the lush grounds of Woodmere where the public can now see and even touch the beast of a sculpture.

See a timeline of Bertoia’s installations and details here.

Public Commissions Listed By State

Please note: All sculptures listed below are currently in situ (as of 2017.)

California

  • Palm Springs: 37977 Bob Hope Dr., Rancho Mirage. Annenberg Resort Sunnylands. “Peacock” kinetic sunburst flower, just under 6 feet tall. 1967
  • San Marino: 1151 Oxford Rd. Huntington Library, Art-Botanical Gardens. 19 foot sonambient tonal. 1970s

 

Colorado

  • Denver: 1201 Bannock Street. Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, opening March 10, 2018! Large bush, several small sculptures. 1970s

 

Connecticut

  • New Haven: 15 Prospect St. Yale University, Becton Center, lobby of the Davies Auditorium. Brass coated screen. 1958

 

Illinois

  • Chicago: 200 E Randolph St. Aon Center. 6 tall sonambient tonals in the courtyard. 1974
  • Chicago: 22 W Washington St. Morningstar Corporation. Hanging half dandelion in stainless steel originally installed at Cuyahoga Savings Association in Cleveland, Ohio. 1965

 

Kansas

  • Wichita: 410 W Douglas. A Price Woodard Park. “Interrupted Flight” standing bird-like tubular welded bronze, 14 by 14 feet. 1974

 

Massachusetts

  • Cambridge: MIT Bldng W15, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chapel. Floating screen. 1955

 

Maryland

  • Baltimore: 2801 Saint Lo Dr. Lake Clifton High School. Welded bronze tubing, patinated fountain. 1971

 

Michigan

  • Detroit: 30001 Van Dyke, Warren. General Motors Technical Center. Screen panel. 1953
  • Flint: 3425 W Bristol Rd. Bishop Airport. Tower. 1970
  • Flint: 1241 E Kearsley St. Whiting Auditorium. “Golden Sun” 7 foot dandelion with 675 individual gold-plated stainless steel rods. 1967

 

Minnesota

  • Minneapolis: 411 Cedar St., Edina. Southdale Shopping Center, central courtyard. Two bronze-coated steel “trees” 48 feet tall. 1956
  • Minneapolis: 20 Washington Ave S. ING Reliastar building. “Sunlit Straw,” originally commissioned by Northwestern National Life Insurance Company. 1964

 

Montana

  • Bozeman. Home of the Harry Bertoia Foundation, private appointments only.

 

Nebraska

  • Grand Island: 211 N Washington St. Edith Abbott Memorial Library. Stainless steel willow. 1974
  • Omaha: 215 S 15th St. Milton Abrahams Branch Omaha Library. Gold plated “Sunburst,” 18 by 11 feet, originally installed at the Perpetual Savings and Loan Association of Los Angeles, California. 1963

New Jersey

  • Princeton: Elm Drive, Princeton University campus. Princeton University Art Museum. Bronze globe. 1964
  • Trenton: 205 W State St. New Jersey State Museum. 30 foot double-rod sonambient tonal outside. 1970s

New York

  • Albright Knox Art Gallery, 1285 Elmwood Ave, Buffalo, NY, two sculptural screens, 1961
  • Huntingdon Beard Crouse Hall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, hanging wires, 1961
  • Manufacturer’s Trust, 1 M & T Plaza, Buffalo, NY, copper tubing sculpture, 1968
  • Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester,  NY, Golisano Bldng – spill cast planters, dandelion in storage, wall screen in James Booth Bldng
  • The North Face, 510 5th Ave, New York, NY, 70’ screen panel of rectangular shapes, 1954

 

Ohio

  • Fine Arts Center Sculpture Garden, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, 10′ tonal with cattails, 1972
  • Cincinnati Public Library, 800 Vine St, Cincinnati, OH, tall tree tower, 1954
  • Glenville Public Library, 11900 St Clair Ave, Cleveland, OH, 5’ tonal, 1979
  • Music Speech Theatre, Guzzetta Hall, University of Akron, Akron, OH, several tonal sculptures, 1975
  • St John’s Unitarian Church, 320 Resor Ave, Cincinnati, OH, wall hung altarpiece, 1961
  • Washington-Centerville Library, 6060 Far Hills Ave, Centerville, OH, screen wall on building designed by Bertoia but built by local artisans for solar manipulation

 

Oklahoma

  • Main Street Mall, Main St, Tulsa, OK, tree fountain, 1957

 

Pennsylvania

  • Reading Area Community College, 10 S 2nd St, Reading, PA, copper tubing fountain “Tulip”, 1974
  • ReDevelopment Program, 625 Penn St, Reading, PA, spill cast and broad bush, 1960s
  • Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave, Swarthmore, PA, bronze spill-cast sculpture “Urn”
  • Woodmere Art Museum, 9201 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA, bronze and copper fountain “Free Interpretation of Plant Forms” and brass tonal sculpture and ink on rice paper monotype

 

Texas

  • Dallas Public Library, 1515 Young St, Dallas, TX, screen panel, 1955

 

Virginia

  • Washington DC: 45020 Aviation Dr, Sterling. Dulles International Airport. 9 spill cast panels. 1963
  • Richmond: 701 E Byrd. Federal Reserve Building. Two tonals. 1978

 

Washington D.C.

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th St NW & F St NW, Washington D.C., hanging sunbursts, 1959

 

West Virginia

  • Marshall University Student Center, Huntington, WV, copper tubing fountain sculpture, 1972

 

Wisconsin

  • Sentry Insurance, 1800 North Point Dr, Stevens Point, tonal panel, 1977

Philadelphia Civic Center. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Now at Woodmere Art Museum. Tubular bronze fountain, 14 by 16 feet. Consultant: E D Stone. Architect: Davis, Pool & Sloan Associates.