Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting Book

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 color 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, thepleasure 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.

Author Bio: 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.

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.--Rex Klett, Mitchell Community Coll., LRC, Statesville, NC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.