Stainless steel standing Willow sculpture by Harry Bertoia, made in 1968 for Seattle First National Bank. This work comes from Bertoia’s well documented Seattle First National Bank commission, a large-scale installation of wire willow sculptures created in partnership with the architecture firm Naramore, Bain, Brady and Johnson. The original commission included 36 willow sculptures suspended across the bank’s vaulted ceiling, forming an installation approximately 32 feet in diameter.
1968 Stainless Steel 64.25" h x 27" dia (163 x 69 cm)
About the Maker: Harry Bertoia (1915–1978) was an Italian-born American artist, sculptor and designer whose work spanned furniture, sculpture, painting and sound. Knoll historian Brian Lutz famously noted that Bertoia’s paintings were better than his sculptures, his sculptures were better than his furniture, and his furniture was “absolutely brilliant.” After studying in Detroit, Bertoia opened a metal workshop at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he taught jewelry design and metalwork. In 1946, he moved to California to work with Charles Eames on laminated and bent plywood, making important contributions to the development of the Eames chairs.
