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Some
little-known
(to me)
Enamelists I'd like to know better!
by
Patrick Kapty
Studio del Campo
sculpture
Photograph courtesy of Sam Kaufman Gallery |
***Warning! If you're looking for a scholarly treatise on Enamel work
through the ages that covers every important development since Man first
fused glass, then skip this article and head straight to the
bibliography. What follows is the often confused and rambling musings
and outright opinions of an enamel amateur – a true lover of enamel!
Short on facts and long on obsession, and full of gorgeous pictures of
amazing enamel artworks by little-known (to me) enamel artists I'd like
to know better!***
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Anonymous enamel fish
plaques
photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
Mankind has admired the rich colors and luminous, mysterious qualities
of fine enamel-work for most of it's recorded history. The earliest
known examples date from 4000 BC from ancient Egypt. Since that time,
nearly every culture in every corner of the world has carried on a love
affair with this most beautiful of decorative arts. From little specks
of color dangling from a woman's ears to architectural installations in
skyscrapers and ocean liners, enamel has been used to decorate almost
every aspect of our lives.
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Chinese enamel
clock front and back
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
Two enamel
plaques signed "JD"
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern
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Much has been written about the long and fascinating history of
enamel-work and the many great artists that have chosen this art for
their own. Anyone interested in enamel could not have missed the
recently published book, “Painting with Fire” that presents many of the
best-known American enamel artists of the 20th century.
Here
I'll be presenting you with some works by little-known or even unknown
enamel artists from the US and elsewhere. To be clear, 'little-known'
does not imply of little artistic or monetary value. Also, little-known
can change to well-known in the blink of a virtual typewriter key!
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Anonymous enamel & brass wall sculpture, USA
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
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Enamel on copper bowl by
Hillary
Photograph by Shirley
Byrne |
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Al
Aston enamel painting
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
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Al Aston
enamel painting
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern
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After the Second World War there was a renaissance in the arts and
crafts worldwide. Enamel-work was not an exception. Among the well-known
American studio jewelers that worked in enamel, the great Earl Pardon
comes to mind, along with Frank Rebajes and Mildred Ball.
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Mildred
Ball enamel on copper bowl
Photograph by Shirley
Byrne |
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One of the lesser known enamel workshops is the Bovano Company of Cheshire,
Connecticut. Bovano was founded in 1953 by the three partners John
Bonsignor, Gene Van Leight, and Warren Noden, and is still making
quality enamel-work to this day.
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Bovano,USA,
label
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
Bovano, USA, two enamel plaques
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty
California Dreamin Retro Modern
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Some of their early designs have been
continuously produced since the 1950s and are available online through
their website. Annemarie Davidson of Sierra Madre, California, first
started enameling back in 1957, and though she's best-known for her
abstract enamel plates, she has for many years also done a line of
whimsical figural works.
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The California company, Matisse-Renoir, often
gets left off the list because their enameled jewelry was production
(made in multiples) rather than unique. They made stunning mid-century
designs that rank with the best of the period.
The owner/designer Jerry Fels later made equally eye-catching wall sculptures under the name,
Jere, a little-known connection in the collecting world.
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Jere table sculpture
Photograph courtesy of Marbeth Schon
M. Schon Modern
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Matisse
of California enamel bracelet
Photograph
courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
Other American
little-known enamelists of note include: Louise Evans, Al Aston, Judith
Dehner, Margaret S. Hall of Encino California, and Mary Sharp. Two firms
for whom I haven't been able to uncover much biographical information
are: California Cloisonne by Landau & Associates of Los Angeles
California, and Edwards Star Originals for Gumps of San Francisco.
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Enamel-work in Europe was also very widespread and popular in the 1950s
and 60s, continuing a tradition that stretches back centuries. The
Norwegians have so many great enamelists that I often think they must
outnumber the non-enamelists in that country.
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David-Andersen,
Norway, enamel brooch from the "Four Seasons" series
Photograph
courtesy of Shirley Byrne |
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Sweden brings to mind for
me the great Sigurd Perrson, and especially his large enameled church
commissions of that era. In Denmark, Henning Koppel designed his silver
and enamel abstract jewelry masterpieces that are timeless and elegant.
Ginger Moro's classic “European Designer Jewelry” includes many great
examples of fine European enameled jewelry from Art Nouveau at the turn
of the century up to the 1960s and 70s.
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Perli
Werkstatte cloisonné bracelet
Photograph
courtesy of Shirley Byrne |
I can't leave out the author and
artist, Oppi Untracht, whose books are full of pictures of well and
little-known artists work from the period. His wife, Saara
Hopea-Untracht, was also known for her enameled silver jewelry.
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For me, the Italians made some of the most astounding and extravagant
artworks in enamel of all time. And it's not something that they just
pulled out of a hat after the war, but is part of a lengthy tradition
that goes back millenia to the Ancient Romans. An amazing book on
Italian medieval and renaissance enameling by Filippo Rossi, “Italian
Jeweled Arts”, is a must-have for anyone interested in
antique jewelry or enameling art.
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Enameled Base Lamp, Italy
Photo courtesy of Andrew M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts |
Probably the most famous of 20th century
Italian enamelists is Paolo de Poli (1905-1984). His work is much
sought-after and very expensive, but there are several others who
created superb enamel-work of the first quality, and aren't as
well-known yet.
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Gufoaccaio
Photo
courtesy of Andrew M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts
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Paolo
DePoli enamel bowl
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
The Communita Artistica was started around 1952 by a
group of art-school graduates who had been inspired to work in enameling
by an exhibition of the work of the Benedictine monks from Liguge,
France. The monks worked primarily in a technique known as grisaille
d'or. (Grisaille d'or is laying on of contrasting darker layers of
enamel over an underlayer of gold enamel.)
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Communita Artistica enamel box
Photo courtesy of Andrew
M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts |
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In 1957, two members of the Communita Artistica left to form their own workshop, the Studio del
Campo. These members, Virgilio Bari and Euclide Chianbretti, with their
wives Lidia Lafanconi and Bianca Tuninetto, did everything from design
to the production of their enameled artworks, though they did
occasionally work with other artists, most notably Gio Ponti.
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Studio del Campo enamel
plaques
photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
The Studio
del Campo's larger works were very expensive in their day, costing from
$3-5000 which was the price of a luxury car at that time.
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Studio del Campo
sculpture
Photo courtesy of Andrew
M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts
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Another little-known Italian workshop that did marvelous work in enamel
was the Ottaviani company. Started in 1945 in the small seaside town of Recanti,
according to a former employee most of their early records were
destroyed in a fire, but their splendid enamels speak for themselves.
There are many other Italian workshops of the first quality about whom
little to nothing is known, though their artworks continue to delight to
this day.
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Ottaviani
enamel & silver wall plaque
Photo
courtesy of Andrew M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts |
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Ottaviani enamel &
silver
rosewood box
Photo courtesy of Andrew
M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts
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In Mexico, the word Enamel usually occurs in the same sentence with the
name “Margot”. Margot Van Voorhies Carr was an American artist/designer
that traveled to Mexico, and fell in love with the country, and with her
new Mexican husband, Antonio Castillo. She is the creator of some of the
most elaborate and beautiful designs in silver and enamel jewelry from
Mexico.
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Another American-born woman, Maggie Howe, arrived on the scene a bit
later, and not only created some wonderful designs in enamel, but also
taught many aspiring young artists, including the well-known Miguel
Pineda (b.1940), and organized an artist's collective and gallery in
Mexico City that is still in business today. The work by Miguel Pineda
that I have seen varies from abstract modernist to
pre-Columbian-influenced designs. His work compares favorably with the
best.
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Maggie
Howe enamel on copper bowl
Photograph by Shirley
Byrne
M. Schon Modern |
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Miguel Pineda Aztec tiger enamel
plaque Photograph
courtesy of Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
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Information from the back of the
Miguel Pineda enamel Aztec tiger plaque
Photograph courtesy of
Patrick Kapty California Dreamin
Retro Modern |
A wise seasoned jewelry-collector once told me to see with the eyes of a
newborn, without prejudice and with wonder. First and foremost,
enamel-work should we beautiful (at least to you), and only later should
you consider 'who' made it. Often these little masterpieces by
little-known or unknown artists can be the most delightful if only
because they are unexpected.
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Orzet,
1974, enamel plaque
Photo courtesy of Andrew
M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts |
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SOME ENAMELING TERMS
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Basse-taille
– involves working the surface of the metal in a low relief design
underneath a transparent or translucent enamel.
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Champleve
– the surface is carved out to form pits in which the enamel is
fired and leaving the original metal exposed.
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Cloisonne
– where thin wires are applied to the metal surface to form sections
which contain enamel.
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Grisaille
– where a darker layer of enamel is applied first, usually black or
dark blue, then many layers of a lighter enamel are applied creating
many shades of in-between colors, usually gray hence the name Gris-
which is French for gray.
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Grisaille d'Or
– similar to Grisaille, but with the underlayer being gold instead
of black or another dark color. This same technique has been used
with other colors like silver etc.
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Limoges enamel
– from Limoges, France, but especially a style of painterly
enamel-work.
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Plique-a-jour
– similar to cloisonne, but without a backing so that the finished
enamel looks like stained glass. Very fragile and very beautiful!
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SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Oppi Untracht
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Jewelry: Concepts and
Technology (1982)
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Metal Techniques for
Craftsmen (1968)
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Enameling on Metal (1957)
Burkholz & Kaplan
Jazzar & Nelson
Lilyan Bachrach
Kenneth Bates
Drutt-English & Dormer
Cindi Strauss et al
Ginger Moro
Filippo Rossi
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Article by “Patrick Kapty California Dreamin Retro Modern”
(760) 671-4879
http://stores.ebay.com/California-Dreamin-Retro-Modern-ETC
Web design by Marbeth
Schon |
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A big thank you to:
Sam Kaufman Gallery
(323) 857-1965
http://samkaufmangallery.1stdibs.com/ |
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and
Andrew M. Reid
Amarcord Fine Decorative Arts (415) 328-6541
www.amarcordfda.com
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Your
comments are invited.
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