Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York [Hardcover]

Mr. David L. Barquist (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001

Myer Myers, a Jewish silversmith in colonial America, created outstanding works for leading members of the New York elite, and the objects made in his workshop have long been regarded as among the most important American statements of the Rococo style. These works are also valuable for the information they provide about craftsmanship, patronage, colonial Judaism, and changing cultural values in pre- and post-Revolutionary America. This stunning catalogue presents works from Myers's workshop in conjunction with essays by eminent authorities on his life and times, all of which shed light on significant themes and events in American culture and history. Myers's lifelong membership in the New York Jewish community, for example, reveals much about the role of religious minorities and social toleration in eighteenth-century America, and the artefacts he created for his family and religious community provide a vivid picture of colonial Jewish life. At the same time, Myers's career as a silversmith offers insights into the complexities of preindustrial craftsmanship in America, showing that silversmiths were less autonomous than has previously been assumed. Catalogue entries provide a chronological survey of Myers's career, highlighting his finest work, situating it within his routine shop production, and focusing on key objects to evoke the interplay of influences that shaped individual works of American art. This catalogue accompanies an exhibition that will be on view at the Yale University Art Gallery from 14th September 2001 to 30th December 2001. It then travels to the Skirball Cultural Center and Museum in Los Angeles from 19th February to 26th May 2002, and to the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum in Delaware from 20th June to 13th September 2002.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An artisan's life work is celebrated in Myer Myers: Jewish Silversmith in Colonial New York by David L. Barquist, an associate curator at the Yale University Art Gallery. During the second half of the 18th century, Myers produced many objects for New York's Jewish community and the city's elite. Jon Butler contributes an essay on ethnosocial relations in the new city, and Jonathan D. Sarna zeroes in on the Sephardim of early New York, describing how the city attracted many "Crypto-Jews, forced converts who were outwardly Christian but inwardly Jewish." This admirable book, including nearly 200 photographs of rich rococo silverwork of the first order, is the catalogue to a Yale exhibition curated by Barquist, and delivers a fascinating scholarly look at a previously obscure aspect of pre-revolutionary America.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The catalog of an exhibition at Yale University (where Barquist is associate curator of American decorative arts at the art gallery), as well as Skirball in Los Angeles and Winterthur in Delaware, this is both a well-researched contribution on the work and life of the Jewish silversmith Myer Myers and an examination of the society in which he lived. Each of the silver pieces presented is fully described in terms of provenance and history, and each is beautifully photographed not an easy accomplishment with silver, whose detail is difficult to capture. In addition to the catalog, the book presents paintings of the leading figures of colonial New York in Myers's day; documents about colonial Jewry; a section, with photographs and explanation, of the marks Myers used to stamp his work; and a long essay on Myers's life. Of interest to historians and art historians, this book boasts a clear and concise style that will make it appealing to the general public as well. Recommended for public as well as academic libraries and especially for collections dedicated to Judaica. Martin Chasin, Adult Inst., Bridgeport, CT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: YU Art Gallery; First Edition edition (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300090579
• ISBN-13: 978-0300090574
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 9.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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