Modernism in American Silver

20th-century Design

Stern Jewel, Tucker Kevin W., Venable Charles L.

From teaspoons to cocktail shakers and unique objects made for New York World's Fairs, this stunning book examines the influence of modernism upon industrially produced silverware made in the United States from 1925 to 2000. Featuring the Dallas Museum of Art's Jewel Stern American Silver Collection – which comprises over four hundred extraordinary works in the modern idiom – as well as other objects in the museum's collection, and selected pieces on loan, "Modernism in American Silver" is the first book to study the full scope of progressive design in American silver of the twentieth century. The book not only focuses on the works of such widely known designers as Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Tommi Parzinger, Elsa Peretti, Eliel Saarinen, Belle Kogan and Lella and Massimo Vigelli, it also reveals the role of others largely unrecognised, among them Donald H. Colflesh, Kurt Eric Christoffersen, Helen Hughes Dulany, Robert J. King and Elsa Tennhardt, who were instrumental in shaping silverware for a New Age.

About the Author

Jewel Stern is an artist, independent curator, and specialist in the history of twentieth-century American silver.

Kevin W. Tucker is Margot B. Perot Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the Dallas Museum of Art.

Charles Venable is Deputy Director of Collections and Exhibitions for the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Reviews

"Jewel Stern's lavishly beautiful book sets the record straight for the streamlined silver produced so expertly in the land of the free" – Birmingham Post

"...this comprehensive book is welcome for its scholarship and wealth of illustrations" – Margot Coatts, Crafts Magazine

"It is splendidly produced, with an array of high quality colour illustrations documenting every phase of American silver design, production and marketing, and will no doubt be the definitive text on the subject. Stern, a noted scholar and collector of American silver, is superbly qualified to undertake this study, and her book offers a wealth of new material and fresh insights. Indeed, 'Modernism in American Silver' will take a place among the very best recent books on modern design in the United States" – Christopher Long, Burlington Magazine

Back to the list of books