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Harry BertoiaCatalogue Raisonné

Artwork: Sculpture

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.
General Purchase Funds, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York (1961:8)
Provenance
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York, 1961 (commissioned)
Exhibitions
1972 Albright-Knox
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
Moore 1970
Moore, Ethel. Letters From 31 Artists. Buffalo: Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1970, p. 6, ill. in b/w, as Untitled.
Nelson 1970
Nelson, June Kompass. Harry Bertoia: Sculptor. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1970. Monograph, pl. 81, p. 125, as Sculpture Screen.
Albright-Knox 1972
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 1972
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, p. 445, as Sculptural Screen.
Type: Rod Form
Record last updated September 17, 2024. 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 April 21, 2025).