Silver in the spirit of modernism.(Current and coming)(American silver)(Modernism in American Silver: 20th Century Design)(The Architect and the Industrial Arts)

Modernist, Modern American, and Sky-scraper are three of the names given to silver or silverplate patterns or objects made in the United States in 1928. These names reflect the conscious effort of American silver manufacturers to break with the past and emulate the latest designs current in Europe--first in France, then in Germany and Scandinavia. American consumers were ready for a change. One year later 185,256 people visited the annual exhibition entitled The Architect and the Industrial Arts, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The show, which included only American-made products designed specifically for the exhibition, proved to be so popular that it was held over for an additional five months. Department stores promoted this new aesthetic, mostly through special exhibitions. The silver on view confirmed that designers had moved away from historical revivals to the new modern idiom.

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An exhibition that surveys the evolution of design in American silver between 1925 and 2000, entitled Modernism in American Silver: 20th Century Design, is on view at the Renwick Gallery in Washington, D. C., through January 22, 2006. It then travels to three other museums: the Dallas Museum of Art (June 18-September 24, 2006), the Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami (November 17, 2006-March 25, 2007), and the Dixon Gallery and Gardens, in Memphis, Tennessee (April 22, 2007-July 15, 2007). There are more than two hundred pieces in the exhibition, including examples of both silver and silverplated hollowware and flatware.

The Great Depression was a substantial setback for all luxury goods manufacturers, and silver companies were among the most hard-hit. Adding insult to injury, new materials were introduced, notably aluminum and chromium-plated brass and other metals, which were considerably less ...