Modernism in American Silver

A lavishly illustrated catalogue that is the first to explore the role of modernism in 20th- century American silver design

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 unrecognized, 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.

For collectors, scholars, designers, students, and museum visitors interested in silver and design, this book is a beautiful and essential resource.



Published in association with the Dallas Museum of Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Dallas Museum of Art ( June 18 – September 24, 2006)

The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee (April 22 – July 15, 2007)

The Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C. (September 16, 2005 – January 22, 2006)

The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida (November 17, 2006 – March 25, 2007)