Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting [Hardcover]

Benton Seymour Rabinovitch (Author), Helen Clifford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2, 2000

The art of the silversmith is at the cutting edge of modern design. Faced with the design of a simple domestic object, the silversmiths featured in this volume have produced an astonishing range -- from the minimal simplicity of the purely functional to the lavish ostentation of the truly baroque. These pieces utilize elements of sealife, Scandinavian design, Florida Art Deco, eighteenth-century Rococo, and totemic, timeless symbols of the natural world to forceful effect.

Editorial Reviews

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 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.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Merrell; 1St Edition edition (June 2, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1858941040
• ISBN-13: 978-1858941042
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 9.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,906,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Have Book on Silver, July 26, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Herman (Providence, RI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting (Hardcover)

Looking for a book on contemporary silver?

If you go to the Web and enter "contemporary silver" in a search engine, what comes up? Not much, right? Go into Amazon.com and look there as well. You'll find just one book: Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Creating. Sure, you'll find a few out-of-print books published in Europe, but who has the time to brush up on their German? The authors of Contemporary Silver are Benton Seymour Rabinovitch and Helen Clifford, Ph.D. Rabinovitch is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Washington, Seattle, a member of the Silver Society (London), and Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. He is a longtime collector of antique silver and serving pieces and is the author of Antique Silver Servers for the Dining Table. Clifford has a number of degrees, is a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, 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.

The two authors have produced a book that is both beautiful and inspiring. Rabinovitch commissioned 62 notable silversmiths from the United States and Great Britain to design and create silver serving pieces in fish-server or cake-slice form. The result is an incredible range of servers in every conceivable technique. From the minimalist to the baroque, from the abstract to the representational, all are meant for practical use, though cleaning some of the more intricate pieces would certainly be a challenge.

These servers demonstrate mastery of the craft, and offer a comparative survey in technique and design between the two countries.

Each of the 62 pieces illustrated (75 have been commissioned to date) has a full description, including materials used, dimensions, and narrative, an artist's philosophy/statement, and brief personal history. Rabinovitch also comments on how he chose each silversmith for the commission.

Within the 160 pages lie chapters on the commissioning process; historical background on servers in the 18th and 19th centuries; silver design in Britain and the U.S. between 1950 and 2000; understanding the collection; the collection itself; and a helpful glossary of terms.

Buy this book!

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book, and project, January 7, 2012

By 

Frederic (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting (Hardcover)

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!

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite inspiration, December 11, 2011

By 

Little Old Lady "Shep" (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Contemporary Silver: Commissioning, Designing, Collecting (Hardcover)

Fine metalwork is something to admire. The photos in this book are spectacular, the closeups much appreciated. And reading about the commissioning process was interesting. As a newbie, wannabe, metalsmith every detail was inspiring or instructional and continues to be on rereading.