WILLIAM SPRATLING - and the Mexican Silver Renaissance

WILLIAM SPRATLING (1900-1967)

William Spratling revolutionized silver jewellery design in Mexico. Arriving in Taxco in 1929, by 1940 he had over 100 silversmiths producing his enormously popular silver creations. Important figures of the North American literary and art establishment, among them John dos Passos, William Faulkner and Georgia O'Keeffe, purchased his designs and sang his praises. Out of Spratling's workshop emerged many of Mexico's finest silver designers, including Hector Aguilar, Antonio Castillo and his brothers Jorge and Justo, Salvador Teran and Antonio Pineda. Their stiking jewellery and hollow-ware in silver - often set with precious stones and pre-Columbian artefacts - are prized collectibles.
 

The volume is richly illustrated with elegant photographs of the works and includes an invaluable appendix of hallmarks, and it was published in conjunction with a traveling exhibition highlighting Spratling's designs.