A long-lost 1970 Harry Bertoia hanging sculpture, commissioned for a mall in Flint, Michigan, has been restored and installed in the atrium of General Motors’ new global headquarters in Detroit. The 26-foot-tall work, made of brazed steel rods in Bertoia's signature "sunlit straw" technique, was discovered in 2017 in the basement of a demolished mall, damaged and covered in dust. The city of Southfield purchased it, and after extensive restoration, it now hangs in GM’s Hudson’s Detroit building.
This rediscovery and restoration matter because it returns a major public sculpture by a celebrated mid-century artist to public view after decades in obscurity. Bertoia, known for his Knoll furniture and monumental works, had deep ties to Detroit—he studied at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts and Cranbrook Academy of Art, and his first public commission was for GM’s Technical Center. The sculpture’s new home at GM headquarters reconnects the work with the artist’s legacy and the city’s industrial and design history.