Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting

by B. Seymour Rabinovitch

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 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 of the Silver Society (London) and an honorary member of the Association of British Designer-Silversmiths. She has written and curated exhibitions on historical and contemporary silver.

160 pages, Hardcover

First published June 2, 2000

Reviews

[Frederic · Rating 5 out of 5]

My (2012) review from Amazon: While there is a strong market today for antique silver, it is taken as given that the everyday use of table silverware is fully out of fashion. In magazine layouts one regularly sees antique English sterling pieces, and American coin silver, and continental silverwares, but it can be hard to sell many pieces for more than the melt value of the metal. Collectors go to great lengths to obtain, identify, and appreciate the fine works of earlier generations of silversmiths, which typically then sit in vaults or showcases.

Nevertheless, there are almost certainly thousands of active silversmiths working in the world today. Some produce work in classical styles (whether European or otherwise, like the Indonesian traditions), others more modern, and some make objects that can only be considered as works of art. Some of this work can be purchased for no more than antique pieces of the same quality, some much more - like all art markets there are "stars" whose work can bring a large premium, and some can even be relative bargains.

This excellent book documents a project of commissioning pieces from contemporary silversmiths, either a fish-slice or a cake-server. The resulting pieces range from fairly traditional and even utilitarian designs to soaring flights of fancy that can hardly be imagined in use. It discusses the contemporary silver markets, how to make a commission, and each piece gets spectacular photographic coverage as well as its story told in text.

I wasn't sure when I ordered this if it would be worth the cost. Well, it is - and then some. It's not a huge book, but it is a good size and makes full use of the available space. The pieces are beautiful and often fascinating. I hope that others who can afford to do so are inspired to make their own projects commissioning pieces from contemporary smiths - and produce similarly nice books for those of us who can't afford to do so on such a grand scale!