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Artwork: Sculpture
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Photo: Ezra Stoller; © Esto
S.MP.18
Untitled
Alternate titles: Commission for 510 Fifth Avenue; Commission for Manufacturers Trust Building; Golden Arbor; Golden Screen; Sculptural screen
1954
Steel with brass, copper, and nickel coating
Welded and melt-coated
192 x 840 x 24 in. (487.7 x 2133.6 x 61 cm)
Architect Gordon Bunshaft, on behalf of the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and its client, Manufacturers Trust Bank, commissioned Bertoia to make this monumental multiplane screen for the the main banking area on the second floor of the bank's new building, located at 510 Fifth Avenue in New York, NY. In 2011, the interior of 510 Fifth Avenue became landmarked, and in 2012, SOM renovated the building and adapted it for retail. While the screen was temporarily removed, the sculpture remains in its original location, on permanent loan from the JP Morgan Art Collection.
Provenance
Manufacturers Trust Company, New York, 1954 (commissioned)
Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York, 1961 (by transfer)
Chemical Bank, New York, 1992 (by transfer)
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, 1996 (by transfer)
Published References
Alexander 1954
Alexander, Jack. "The Bank That Has No Secrets." Saturday Evening Post (November 30, 1954), ill. in color, pp. 36, 37.Buffalo Evening News 1954
"'Fish-Bowl' Branch is Abrupt Departure From Typical Bank." Buffalo Evening News (Buffalo, N.Y.), September 23, 1954.Daily News 1954
"Showcase Bank." Daily News (New York, NY), December 5, 1954, ill. in b/w.Life 1954
"Money Changing in a House of Glass." Life (New York, NY) (October 25, 1954), ill. in color, p. 62.Mumford 1954
Mumford, Lewis. "Crystal Lantern." The New Yorker 30 (November 13, 1954), p. 202.The New Yorker 1954
"Talk of the Town: Showcase." The New Yorker 30, no. 33 (October 2, 1954), p. 25.Architectural Record 1954a
"Manufacturers Trust Company Builds Conversation Piece on Fifth Avenue." Architectural Record 116, no. 5 (November 1954), ill. in color, p. 149, 153; ill. in b/w, 150-51, 153-154.New York Times 1954a
"'Showcase' Bank Holds a Preview." The New York Times, September 23, 1954.New York Times 1954b
"15,000 Ooh and Ah at Opening of Dazzling, 'Newfangled' Bank." The New York Times, October 5, 1954, p. 29.Arts & Architecture 1955
"Metal Sculpture—Harry Bertoia." Arts & Architecture 72, no. 1 (January 1955), ill. in b&w on cover, pp. 18-19.Bennett 1955
Bennett, Vivienne. "'Art Outlasts Critics:' Berks County Artist Is Calm in Midst of Artistic Tempest." Sunday Call-Chronicle (Allentown, PA), July 17, 1955, ill. in b/w , p. 16.Clute 1955
Clute, Eugene. "Abstractions in Metal." Progressive Architecture 36 (February 1955), ill. in b/w, p. 104-05.Donaldson 1956
Donaldson, Scott. "You Can 'Rest in Wonderment:' A (Metal) Tree Grows in Southdale." The Minneapolis Star, August 27, 1956, p. 11A.Hannum 1956
Hannum, Herbert. "Collaboration." Craft Horizons 16, no. 3 (May/June 1956), ill. in b/w, p. 12.Ithaca Journal 1956
"Art: Three Exhibits." The Ithaca Journal (Ithaca, NY), April 14, 1956, p. 2.Morning Call 1956
"$10,000 Gift for Sculptor from Berks." The Morning Call (Allentown, PA), December 13, 1956, p. 55.Boyertown Times 1957
"Barto Man Goes to Italy: Sculptor Uses $10,000 Gift to Study Abroad." Boyertown Times (Boyertown, PA), April 11, 1957, as Commission for Manufacturers Trust Building.Elson 1957
Elson, Katharine. "Architect Designs New Furniture." Washington Post, March 24, 1957, p. F16.Hirzel 1957
Hirzel, Donald. "50 Bertoia Art Objects on Display." The Evening Sun (Baltimore, MD), May 13, 1957, p. 21.Minneapolis Star 1958
"Space, Form, and Metal." The Minneapolis Star (Minneapolis, MN), January 22, 1958, p. 1C.Salditch 1958
Salditch, Martin. "Reporter at Large: Bally Harbors Top Sculptor." Reading Times (Reading, PA), August 14, 1958.Reading Times 1959
"KSTC Opening Art Conference Tomorrow." Reading Times (Reading, PA), November 5, 1959.Tulsa Tribune 1959a
"Bank 'Rain Tree' to Shed Pipe Dreams." The Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, OK), June 5, 1959, p. 22.Sowers 1961
Sowers, Robert. "Arts in Architecture: The Vista on Fifth Avenue." Craft Horizons 21, no. 1 (January / February 1961), ill. in b/w, p. 38.Hakanson 1962a
Hakanson, Joy. "Sculptor Back at Cranbrook to Describe His Latest Work." The Detroit News, November 20, 1962, as Commission for Manufacturers Trust Building.Ditmer 1966
Ditmer, Joanne. "Raising the Roof: Bertoia Chair 'Made of Air.'" The Denver Post, May 29, 1966, p. 32.Kratz 1966
Kratz, Charles I. Harry Bertoia: An Interview. Bally, PA, January 1966. Harry Bertoia Foundation, St. George, UT, pp.12, 13.Meilach and Seiden 1966
Meilach, Dona and Don Seiden. Direct Metal Sculpture: Creative Techniques and Appreciation. New York: Crown, 1966, ill. in b/w.Kucinski 1970
Kucinski, Leonard. "Artist Makes Musical Sculpture." Sunday Call-Chronicle (Allentown, PA), April 5, 1970, p. F1.Kucinski 1972
Kucinski, Leonard. "Berks Sculptor Creates Memorial to Grid Team." Sunday Call-Chronicle (Allentown, PA), September 10, 1972.Brown 1978
Brown, Dorothy. "Harry Bertoia, 63, Dies; Award-Winning Sculptor." The Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia), November 8, 1978, as Sculptural screen.Glueck 1978
Glueck, Grace. "Harry Bertoia, 63; Sculptor, Designer." The New York Times, November 8, 1978, p. B-10, as Golden Screen.Detroit Institute of Arts 1983
Design in America: The Cranbrook Vision, 1925-1950. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in Association with the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. Exhibition catalogue (1983–84 DIA), discussed p. 256, ill. in b/w p. 255.Fiell 1999
Fiell, Charlotte and Peter Fiell. Design of the 20th Century. Köln: Taschen, 1999, p. 111, as Commission for Manufacturers Trust Building.Newhall 2000
Newhall, Edith. "Installation: Play It as It Lays." New York (January 24, 2000).Huxtable 2010
Huxtable, Ada Louise. "A Landmark Jewel Box Loses Its Biggest Gem." The Wall Street Journal (New York, NY), November 4, 2010, ill. in b/w.Pogrebin 2010
Pogrebin, Robin. "ArtsBeat: A Bertoia Sculpture is Dismantled." The New York Times, October 23, 2010.Falino 2011
Falino, Jeannine. Crafting Modernism: Midcentury American Art and Design. New York: Abrams in Association with the Museum of Arts and Design, 2011. Exhibition catalogue (2011–12 MAD), ill. in b/w, fig. 4.5, p. 90, as Sculptural screen.Pogrebin 2011
Pogrebin, Robin. "Modernist Landmark Behind a Court Battle." The New York Times, September 28, 2011, p. C 1.Dunlap 2012
Dunlap, David W. "City Room: Behind the Low-Priced Clothing, a Priceless Midcentury Sculpture." The New York Times, May 31, 2012, ill. in color.Pogrebin 2012
Pogrebin, Robin. "ArtsBeat: Settlement Reached on 5th Avenue Landmark." The New York Times, Feburary 9, 2012.Stoelker 2012
Stoelker, Tom. "Glass Half Full." The Architect's Newspaper (New York, NY), February 11, 2012.Douberley 2015
Douberley, Amanda. "The Corporate Model: Sculpture, Architecture, and the American City, 1946-1975." Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2015.Hillier 2016
Hillier, DC. "The Screens of Harry Bertoia." MCM Daily, November 28, 2016, ill. in color and b/w.Sullivan 2016
Sullivan, Marin R. "Alloyed Screens: Harry Bertoia and the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Building-510 Fifth Avenue." Sculpture Journal 25, no. 3 (2016), ill. in b/w, pp. 362, 366, 371, 372, 377, as Commission for Manufacturers Trust Building.Lamberti 2018
Lamberti, Benedetta. "Harry Bertoia, A Sculptor in the World of Design." Elle Decor Italia (December 12, 2018).Sellers 2022
Sellers, Libby. "Harry Bertoia & Isamu Noguchi." TL Mag (Brussels) 37 (May 2022), ill. in b/w, p. 257, as Golden Arbor.Sullivan 2022
Sullivan, Marin R. Alloys: American Sculpture and Architecture at Midcentury. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022.Lange February 2022
Lange, Alexandra. "The Shopping-Mall Legacy of a Mid-Century Sculptor." Bloomberg, February 1, 2022, ill. in color.
Record last updated April 8, 2025. Please note that the information on this and all pages is periodically reviewed and subject to change.
Citation: Harry Bertoia Foundation. "Untitled, 1954 (S.MP.18)." In Harry Bertoia Catalogue Raisonné. catalogue.harrybertoia.org/catalogue/entry.php?id=988 (accessed on April 21, 2025).