Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Dutch
Original Language: Dutch
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best resource guide on Art Nouveau & Deco Silver I have found.,
By Adam G. Thomson III "Lap top work station des... (Bethel, North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
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This review is from: Art Nouveau and Art Deco Silver (Hardcover)
A very well written guide to this subject matter. I used to bid against major Art Nouveau & Deco collectors in the late 1970's and 1980's at the seasonal Art Nouveau & Deco auctions in New York and abroad. Recently in selling a German Art Nouveau five piece coffee and tea service at Sotheby's in New York, I used this book to try to determine who designed and made it. This book was invaluable, and worth every dollar I paid for it. I read it so much I broke the spine of three hard copies of the book, that I constantly referred to.
Eventually I contacted its author after weeks of trying. She only wrote me back once, but her insights were invaluable, along with some of Europe's leading silver dealers of those two periods. Bottomline; I would buy this book again in a heartbeat if I was doing serious research on this topic. The alphabetical references in its back, that showed hallmarks and biographies of many of the period designers, architects, silversmiths and manufacturers of the period, is worth the price of the book alone. I did find only two or three possible errors in the entire list of biographical references in the back of the book, and those were only because of omissions I believe the editor had to leave out in order to get most of the references into the biographies possible. E.g.-Two pieces by Austrian Designer Joseph Olbrich that are pictured in the book were not mentioned or referred to as being pictured and attributed to Bruckmann and Sons in the biographies of that company and Olbrich in the back section of the book. If I am wrong, it is only because I had not spent the last 20 to 40 years studying like its author and don't know the medium at all as well as she does. If you ever get the chance to use her for identifying any of your pieces of the period, I would not hestitate to do so. When she wrote me back, she graciously corrected me in a list of German designers and silversmiths that I thought had worked for Van de Velde. She is the leading expert on the subject in the world in my opinion, after consulting as many silver experts as I could find in Europe and the USA. Bottomline; I have been through the US Library of Congress sections on Art Nouveau & Deco in the late 1980's, when you could walk through the stacks and pull out the books and do your research. From that experience and trying to find other books on Art Nouveau & Art Deco Silver, I think I can honestly say this is probably the best book you will find on this topic, for those two period's silver. Other references, catalogs from some of the makers and different period exhibition guides might be better references, but honestly, you should use the author to establish who your silver maker might be. I also found Kevin Tierney, at Sotheby's Silver and Objects Vertu Department,(New York) also an excellent resource along with different silver collecting societies worldwide as good places to go research antique silver if you must along with their membership. Don't overlook the Art Nouveau Research Society located in Brussel at the Horta House or Villa, as another invaluable resource for that period's lilver. Look up their references by country in their associated links on their website the Réseau Art Nouveau Network which is located in the Horta Museum in Brussels, Belgium, (so use a-s.riffaud@artnouveau-net.eu is their email contact to reach them) to find out what they do. It will list most of the collections now open to the public worldwide. Buy this book, if you are serious about researching the subject and then go on from there, getting acquainted with the collections, the period dealers, their inventories, and leading authorities on the subject. If you can get up with the author consider yourself lucky. She is worth her weight in silver as far as I am concerned if you can get her advice or estimated appraisal on whatever it is you have you are trying to identify. Learn to use the Google language translation function if you are going to be making inquiries abroad. I found it quite helpful to correspond in German, French, Swiss, Danish and Norwegian to the leading museums and silver authorities I encountered on the web. I heard back from a few billionaire collectors I had contacted, when I corresponded with them in their own language about Art Nouveau silver. Learning to use this tool, expanded my understanding of the topic greatly. A warning; if you buy this book, don't be surprised if your desire to come to learn the topic more completely grows. Explore silver that are outside this period if you wish to expand your world. Enjoy. Live long, shine up your silver, (carefully) and prosper. Now go do it! Thanks for having taken the time to have read this review. If you disagree or have anything to add to this review, please do so. Just be constructive in your critiquing what I have said here. Happy Silver Hunting From Adam Thomson
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