Bestselling and bargain books: Collecting Sculpture
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Books -> Collecting Sculpture
Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting
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by:
Rabinovitch, Benton Seymour
Clifford, Helen
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Publisher:
Merrell Publishers
Published: June 2000
ISBN: 1858941040
Format:Hardcover
Pages:160
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Book Description
From Library Journal
London Silver Society member Rabinovitch (Antique Servers for the Dining Table) and Clifford, a curator of historical and contemporary silver exhibitions, team up to present a collection of fish, cake, and pastry servers
commissioned from some 60 British and American silversmiths specifically for this project. Their admittedly narrow focus belies the broad import of the title. A short guide to commissioning silver, a brief historical background of servers, and a quick
survey of recent design developments introduce the bulk of the book, which showcases the exquisite products of some highly talented silversmiths. Short biographical sketches, statements of design philosophy, and extended description accompany gorgeous
color photographs of each silver server. Perfect for browsing or for finding brief information on modern silversmiths, this title belongs in all academic and large public libraries.DRex Klett, Mitchell Community Coll., LRC, Statesville, NC
Copyright
2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Professor Benton Seymour Rabinovitch is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (London), a member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Silver Society (London). He is a long-time collector of antique silver and serving pieces and is the author of Antique Silver Servers for the Dining Table.
Helen Clifford, MA (Cantab), PhD (RCA),
FSA, is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, a member... read more
Book Description
The art of the silversmith is at the cutting edge of modern design. Complex and vital, the work in the field of contemporary silverware combines
ancient skills and techniques with the latest innovations in technology to produce objects that both reflect and challenge current aesthetic ideas.
Taking as their brief the design of a simple fish server or cake slice, the British and American
silversmiths whose work is represented in the more than sixty-strong collection of Benton Seymour Rabinovitch have produced an astonishing range of variations on a single theme. From the minimal simplicity of the purely functional to the lavish
ostentation of the truly baroque, these pieces utilize elements of sea life, Scandinavian design, Florida Art Deco, eighteenth-century Rococo and totemic, timeless symbols of the natural world to forceful effect. Whether entirely abstract or startlingly
representative, what these pieces have in common is the immense technical mastery that has gone into their design and construction - as well as the fact that, no matter how fantastic their appearance, they are all meant for practical use.
Each
piece in the collection is lavishly illustrated in colour with a specially commissioned photograph and accompanied by an account of the work's conception. Personal accounts of the artists' guiding aesthetic and technical principles provide a long-needed,
unique and authoritative window into current design practice both in Britain and the United States.
What keeps silversmithing alive today is the practice of commissioning, by individuals as well as institutions. Commissioning offers the prestige
of associating with some of the world's greatest silversmiths, the pleasure of owning something unique and handwrought, and the opportunity of contributing to the survival of the craft - a personal stake in the future.
The authors provide a
step-by-step guide to commissioning one's own pieces, as well as a design-historical context to the last fifty years of the craft. Designers and makers, curators and collectors, craft writers and historians, as well as anyone interested in the beautiful,
will find this volume a fund of information and inspiration.
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