A long lost sculpture by industrial designer Harry Bertoia has been restored to its former glory by General Motors.
Bertoia’s first piece was commissioned by General Motors Global Technical Centre in Warren, Michigan way back in 1953.
Now, GM is proud to re-introduce another Bertoia work, showcased at its new global headquarters at Hudson’s Detroit – a sculpture that has been missing for decades.
In 1970, when Bertoia was an established leader in modernist sculpture, the J L Hudson Company commissioned an installation for the Genesee Valley Mall in Flint, Michigan.
Bertoia’s creation was monumental in size, yet delicate in appearance: An eight metre tall sculpture that takes the form of two large clouds, constructed of steel wire coated in melted brass, bronze, and metal alloys.
In 1980, when the Genesee Valley Mall was closed for renovation, the Bertoia sculpture was moved to the Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan.
There, it vanished from public view for decades.
When the Northland Mall was later demolished, it was feared that the Bertoia installation had been lost for good.
Miraculously, in 2017, appraisers from the Southfield Arts Commission discovered the lost Bertoia beneath layers of dirt in the basement of the demolished mall.
The City of Southfield then purchased the artwork, and restoration was begun.
When General Motors announced its new headquarters on the site of the former J L Hudson’s department store on Woodward Avenue, the historic Detroit location provided the perfect home for the rediscovered Bertoia.
Installing the heroic sculpture was a massive undertaking.
A five-story-high opening had to be “unzipped” in the side of the Hudsons Detroit building.
The sculpture was threaded through the five-metre wide, 25-metre tall opening in two pieces, involving a complex ballet of chain-falls and cranes to safely transport the historic artwork.
With the lost Bertoia now permanently installed, the new GM headquarters at Hudsons Detroit showcases a work with deep connections to General Motors, to the city of Detroit, and to the midcentury arts movement that helped define the modern aesthetic.
Bertoia’s original work for GM, Untitled Wall Screen, is a 12-metre long, 3-metre tall screen composed of hundreds of rectangular steel plates coated in molten brass and bronze, mounted on vertical steel rods.
It defined the entire western-facing wall of GM’s Central Restaurant – a building known today as the Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, where GM designers consult with clients to create each bespoke, individually-appointed Celestiq ultra-luxury sedan.
This centerpiece earned Bertoia an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1955, and was the first of more than 50 major public works completed by the artist during his lifetime.
Bertoia was born in Italy in 1915, but his art career took flight when he emigrated to Detroit.
A graduate of Cass Technical High School, he attended the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts – now known as the College for Creative Studies – later receiving a scholarship to study at the prestigious Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills.
In the post-World War II era, Michigan became the centre of the modernist design movement.
Partly inspired by the daring jet-age styling of American automobiles, the modernist movement sought to combine fine art and industrial design, creating works that were both beautiful and functional.
“Light is the sculptor’s most important partner,” Bertoia said.
“The play of light on metal gives life to the form; without light, sculpture does not exist.”
Untitled Wall Screen viewed from inside Cadillac House
Harry Bertoia was an industrial designer, printmaker and sculptor from Italy.
Bertoia was famous for the chairs he designed.
Harry Bertoia with one of his sound sculptures.
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