S.RF.4
Untitled
Alternate titles: Commission for Albright-Knox Art Gallery; Sculptural Screen; Sculpture Screen
1961
Tobin bronze and iron rods
Overall: 80 3/4 x 162 1/4 x 23 3/8 in. (205.1 x 412.1 x 59.4 cm)
Section 1: 80 3/4 x 40 1/2 x 23 1/4 in. (205.1 x 102.9 x 59.1 cm)
Section 2: 80 1/2 x 40 3/4 x 23 1/4 in. (204.5 x 103.5 x 59.1 cm)
Section 3: 80 3/4 x 40 3/4 x 40 3/4 in. (205.1 x 103.5 x 103.5 cm)
Section 4: 80 3/4 x 40 1/4 x 23 3/8 in. (205.1 x 102.2 x 59.4 cm)
In the 1950s, the Albright Art Gallery hired Buffalo-native Gordon Bunshaft and the firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to design an addition for the museum. The architect commissioned Bertoia to create a sculpture for a lounge and restaurant space in the new building. The resulting work comprises four sections of thick metal tubes that can be arranged together as a screen or placed as individual entities within the dining space. The addition was dedicated in early 1962 and the institution renamed the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in honor of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., who had underwritten the building. Bertoia’s screens, in a variety of configurations, remained on view in the restaurant continuously until 2008, when they were removed and placed in storage.
Exhibitions
Albright-Knox, Buffalo, New York, American Painting and Sculpture Since 1960 in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery Albright-Knox Art Gallery, November 17–December 31, 1972, as Sculptural Screen.
Published References
"3 Sculptures, 4 Paintings Acquired for Albright-Knox." Buffalo Evening News (Buffalo, NY), January 17, 1962, p. 5, as Sculptural Screen.
Reeves, Jean. "Water Will Spill Over Abstract Sculpture Created for Fountain at M&T Building." The Buffalo News, July 27, 1968, p. 3.
Bertoia, Harry. [no title]. Gallery Notes, Special issue, Letters From 31 Artists to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, edited by Ethel Moore (Buffalo, N.Y.: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright-Knox Art Gallery) 31, no. 2 and 32, no. 2 (Spring 1970), p. 6, ill. in b/w, as Untitled.
Nelson, June Kompass. Harry Bertoia: Sculptor. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1970. Monograph, pl. 81, p. 125, as Sculpture Screen.
Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Recent American Painting and Sculpture in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Buffalo: The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1972. Exhibition catalogue, as Sculptural Screen.
Moore, Ethel. Contemporary Art 1942-72: Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. New York: Praeger Publishers, in association with the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Permanent collection catalogue, p. 445, as Sculptural Screen.
External Links
- Albright-Knox (albrightknox.org)
Record last updated September 5, 2025. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Harry Bertoia Foundation. "Untitled, 1961 (S.RF.4)." In Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné. catalogue.harrybertoia.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=1226 (accessed on October 8, 2025).