Borrowing freely from Aztec through Art Deco designs more than a half century ago, William Spratling began reshaping Mexican silver jewelry into a modern style that is rich in leafage, mythological animals, astrological symbols, ranch images and Jazz Age motifs. In the process, he helped transform Taxco from a sleepy mining town in the Guerrero Mountains into a world-renowned silver center.
That style, now in revival, is bound to be advanced further by ”Mexican Silver Jewelry: the American School 1930-1960,” an exhibition of more than 200 pieces opening Wednesday and remaining through July 13 at Muriel Karasik Gallery, 1094 Madison Avenue (at 82d Street). Organized at the gallery by Karen Davidov, Elaine Mathas and Meredyth Smith, the show is the first such presentation of this material which is probably as abundant in the nation’s jewelry boxes today as Tiffany lamps once were in attics across the land.
The team has researched the subject and produced an impressive selection of work from 10 designers, all of which is documented in a catalogue ($10) that places the movement in historical context, identifies what is known of its major figures, and credits earlier studies on the subject. The catalogue forward, explains why the focus of the show is on the American School.
”What we found to be noteworthy was that the development of modern Mexican jewelry was due to the pioneering efforts of an American, William Spratling,” the organizers state, adding: ”Spratling’s innovative work influenced a generation of Mexican and American designers.”
Spratling, an architect who was born in Sonyea, N.Y., was educated at Auburn University in Alabama and served as a professor of architecture at Tulane University until 1929 when he left New Orleans to live and write in Taxco.
Spratling maintained throughout his life that he became involved with silver as an entrepreneur who needed to make a living. In 1931, encouraged by Ambassador Morrow, he opened his Taxco shop, Taller de las Delicias, where he sold hand-crafted furniture, serapes, tin accessories and his own silver jewelry. The jewelry became so popular that he employed more artisans, and a silver-jewelry boom developed in Taxco that spread eventually throughout Mexico.
As might be expected, Spratling’s earliest designs were rooted in historical material and rich in traditional motifs. This was spurred further by the discovery in 1932 of the Mixtec and Zapotec treasures in Monte Alban in Oaxaca, a Mexican archeological find that influenced jewelry styling in Taxco as dramatically as the opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1925 had affected Art Deco designing throughout Europe and the United States.
The pre-Hispanic motifs Spratling began with were soon mixed with modern Cubist and contemporary folk elements in the highly sophisticated earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets and money clips he designed. He was also responsible for combining wood and silver and such semi-precious stones as obsidian, amethyst, onyx, turquoise and jet.
Memorable among his jewelry in this show are early modern designs, some of which appear to be influenced by the Surrealists. There is a pair of silver checkerboard earrings, bracelets and pins incorporating trumpet-like flowers and a pin, echoing Max Ernst, depicts the sun and moon. Brooches are about $300, earrings from $250 and bracelets from $500 to $700.
Spratling ventured further than most designers in every way. His work is characterized by classic simplicity and he also made serving utensils, pitchers, vessels and trays. In 1944 he was sent by the United States Department of the Interior to do for Alaskan native Americans what he had accomplished with Mexican artisans. He piloted his own plane to Alaska and the Arctic, did about 200 designs based on Alaskan crafts and returned with Alaskan Indians to Taxco to train them. The project had a profound influence on his own work, in which he soon used abstracted Indian images and North Star motifs.
Although Spratling was the guiding spirit behind the Mexican modern jewelry movement, others contributed highly individual styling. Frederich Davis, another American, came to Mexico before Spratling and was the manager of the Sonora News Company in Mexico City where he would later produce jewelry of elegant simplicity. Outstanding among his square-cut and faceted silver necklaces, pins, bracelets and earrings shown is a stunning choker of trapezoidal elements ($250).
Margot Carr Banburges was a San Francisco painter who moved to Mexico in the 1920’s and was married in the 30’s to Antonio Castillo, a jewelry producer, for whom she made her first clips, bracelets, necklaces and earrings. Among some of her marvelous designs shown is an enameled 1940’s fan bracelet, a tour de force of craftsmanship ($425).
Antonio Castillo and his four brothers were all trained in Spratling’s shop before they went out on their own to open Los Castillo, one of the most prominent of the Mexcian jewelry producers which is now in its second generation. The Castillos were responsible for introducing works that married two or more metals. They also did enameling, feather work and Aztec mosaics. The exhibition includes some complex and simple selections in solid silver sometimes combining semi-precious stones or glass.
Antonio Pineda, a native of Taxco, started in Spratling’s first workshop and went on to operate his own shop known as ”Antonio,” which is the way he also signed his boldly conceived modern jewelry. Hector Aguilar was another craftsman with roots in Spratling’s enterprise who proceeded to excel on his own. The show includes interesting examples of the works of these craftsmen, ranging from $350 to $650 for bracelets and $450 to $750 for necklaces.
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