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Lot Essay
I first met Michael Formica in the early 1990's, when I was a junior editor at House & Garden (HG) magazine. Michael took me under his wing, generously tutoring me on the finer points of modernist French masters such as Charlotte Perriand, Jean Royere, and Jean Prouvé, as well as his other favorites, like the British designer T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings. Michael had the most confident eye and instinctive taste, and was far ahead of his time in his passion for these and many other designers. While Michael's clients were the fortunate beneficiaries of his discerning, prescient advice, he also collected for himself in this way, focusing on works and makers that were still under the radar. At a time when the exotic finishes of French art deco were the prevailing style, Michael pointed clients in the direction of sculptural French décor by Royere and Line Vautrin. Before George Nakashima’s Soul of the Tree became known across the globe, Michael pursued the works of the Japanese-American woodworker less for their expressive details than for their honest utility and simplicity, akin to humble yet sophisticated Shaker and early-American furniture. A purist with an appreciation for discipline and rigor, Michael did not care for superfluous decorative gestures.
Brilliant at discovering threads of similarity between disparate works from any era, Michael created spaces for himself in which Julian Schnabel’s map drawings could be in a dialogue with Harry Bertoia's astonishing sculptures. Michael's taste in art was aligned with his taste in design—gestural abstraction or repeated patterns found synergy with the earthiness of unglazed and textured ceramics. Michael took delight in a wide range of makers and forms of visual expression, yet pedigree mattered and history lived in the works that he curated for himself.
Michael would typically collect designers in depth, layering his personal spaces with a collage of art and design, function and expression, metals and wood. Michael and his beloved husband, artist Bob Heimstra, established a winter hideaway in Palm Beach when others of their generation followed the herd elsewhere. In their enchanting South Florida home, they lived a life unlike many others in the fabled community. They were young and creative, not formal and proper. Their landmarked home, on a cul-de-sac off of A1A, was more about oaks and broad-leaved tranquility than insensate views of the ocean framed by wispy palms. This was a secret tropical paradise that sheltered the couple's lives (and minds) from the hustle of contemporary life, and remained a creative and comfortable respite until the time came to close this chapter in their life.
Michael died suddenly at the end of 2020. His creative genius thoroughly infused the interiors he left behind and this collection offers an opportunity for others to find the magic in the singular objects that drew his creative eye. He was, quite simply, enthralled by good design, and as enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with a curious young editor as with the connoisseurs who hired him to guide their decisions. Michael was fierce and he was loyal, and he was a dear friend and mentor for so many decades. I was blessed to know him and to experience his exceptional homes and collections firsthand. Michael chose his objects well, and maybe they chose him, too. It is bittersweet yet reassuring to know that these well loved pieces are starting a new adventure.
- Amy Astley, Global Editorial Director & US Editor in Chief, Architectural Digest
Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) was an Italian born artist who emigrated to the United States of America at the age of 15. In 1937, Bertoia was awarded a scholarship to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and in 1939 Bertoia was asked by Eliel Saarinen to direct the Metals workshop at the school. In this highly innovative and creative environment, Bertoia found himself amongst likeminded visionaries of American mid-century modernism such as Florence Knoll, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen.
A multi-talented artist widely known for his famed Diamond chair designed for Knoll in 1952, Bertoia’s diverse career as a sculptor continues to be pursued by collectors around the world. Bertoia’s Sonambient, or Tonal sculptures express a great fascination he had with the physical characteristics of metal, from their inherent aesthetics to their properties of sound and kinetic energy. Produced in a range of compositional density and height, the sculptures appear stoic and stationary yet reverberate movement through interaction either via observer or natural atmosphere. The release of sound emanates from the metal structure and reverberates into its surroundings. In addition to his linear Tonals, Bertoia also expressed the organic potential of metal with his Bush series. These undulating bronzes defy the limits of metal sculpture to become fluid expressions of form. Their free-form appearance begins with a thoughtful and mathematical branching of stems from a central core, expanding outward until they terminate in an undulating field of metal globules. Here, Bertoia explored organic, terrestrial forms as a metaphor for the infinite and interconnected universe, illustrating the depth of his conceptual practice alongside the raw aesthetic power of his artistic output in metal.
Brilliant at discovering threads of similarity between disparate works from any era, Michael created spaces for himself in which Julian Schnabel’s map drawings could be in a dialogue with Harry Bertoia's astonishing sculptures. Michael's taste in art was aligned with his taste in design—gestural abstraction or repeated patterns found synergy with the earthiness of unglazed and textured ceramics. Michael took delight in a wide range of makers and forms of visual expression, yet pedigree mattered and history lived in the works that he curated for himself.
Michael would typically collect designers in depth, layering his personal spaces with a collage of art and design, function and expression, metals and wood. Michael and his beloved husband, artist Bob Heimstra, established a winter hideaway in Palm Beach when others of their generation followed the herd elsewhere. In their enchanting South Florida home, they lived a life unlike many others in the fabled community. They were young and creative, not formal and proper. Their landmarked home, on a cul-de-sac off of A1A, was more about oaks and broad-leaved tranquility than insensate views of the ocean framed by wispy palms. This was a secret tropical paradise that sheltered the couple's lives (and minds) from the hustle of contemporary life, and remained a creative and comfortable respite until the time came to close this chapter in their life.
Michael died suddenly at the end of 2020. His creative genius thoroughly infused the interiors he left behind and this collection offers an opportunity for others to find the magic in the singular objects that drew his creative eye. He was, quite simply, enthralled by good design, and as enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with a curious young editor as with the connoisseurs who hired him to guide their decisions. Michael was fierce and he was loyal, and he was a dear friend and mentor for so many decades. I was blessed to know him and to experience his exceptional homes and collections firsthand. Michael chose his objects well, and maybe they chose him, too. It is bittersweet yet reassuring to know that these well loved pieces are starting a new adventure.
- Amy Astley, Global Editorial Director & US Editor in Chief, Architectural Digest
Harry Bertoia (1915-1978) was an Italian born artist who emigrated to the United States of America at the age of 15. In 1937, Bertoia was awarded a scholarship to attend the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and in 1939 Bertoia was asked by Eliel Saarinen to direct the Metals workshop at the school. In this highly innovative and creative environment, Bertoia found himself amongst likeminded visionaries of American mid-century modernism such as Florence Knoll, Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen.
A multi-talented artist widely known for his famed Diamond chair designed for Knoll in 1952, Bertoia’s diverse career as a sculptor continues to be pursued by collectors around the world. Bertoia’s Sonambient, or Tonal sculptures express a great fascination he had with the physical characteristics of metal, from their inherent aesthetics to their properties of sound and kinetic energy. Produced in a range of compositional density and height, the sculptures appear stoic and stationary yet reverberate movement through interaction either via observer or natural atmosphere. The release of sound emanates from the metal structure and reverberates into its surroundings. In addition to his linear Tonals, Bertoia also expressed the organic potential of metal with his Bush series. These undulating bronzes defy the limits of metal sculpture to become fluid expressions of form. Their free-form appearance begins with a thoughtful and mathematical branching of stems from a central core, expanding outward until they terminate in an undulating field of metal globules. Here, Bertoia explored organic, terrestrial forms as a metaphor for the infinite and interconnected universe, illustrating the depth of his conceptual practice alongside the raw aesthetic power of his artistic output in metal.