Mexican Silversmiths Part 1
Antonio Pineda
Antonio Pineda was a modernist Mexican silversmith. He was born in Taxco in 1919 and was a prolific jeweler from the 50’s to the 70’s.
Besides jewelry he also worked in tableware and hollow ware using precious and semiprecious stones.
His work was exhibited and sold internationally and his designs contributed to an artistic national identity in Mexico.
Annette Nancarrow
Annette was born in New York and immigrated to Mexico in 1936, where she lived most of her life. She was a painter, sculptor and jewelry designer and became friends with the great muralists and artists of Mexico from the Golden Era. Her jewelry was worn by Anais Nin, Peggy Guggenheim, Frida Kahlo and Elizabeth Arden. Her work was inspired by Mesoamerican art.
Enrique Ledesma
Enrique Ledesma worked as an apprentice in his father's jewelry workshop from a young age. He studied painting and sculpture in Mexico City and opened his own jewelry company in the 50’s after working for some renowned Mexican silversmiths in Taxco.
He was known for the seamless incorporation of stone and silver called inlay and his modernist and minimal design.
Ana Maria Nunez Brilanti
Ana Nunez Brilanti was one of the first leading female silversmiths from the 40’s also known as “Victoria de Mexico or Cony”. She had a distinct pattern she used in her pieces called angel cut design or double angel design made in a shadow box cutout plaque, referring to the hollow cut figures in her pieces.
William Spratling
William Spratling was an American architect, he moved to Mexico and became a jeweler in the 30’s. He was accredited the Taxco silver movement, but with great help of a group of Mexican designers who worked with him that went on to establish their workshops and developed the “Taxco School”. He founded Taller de Las Delicias, were his beautiful silver work was based primarily on Mesoamerican and traditional motifs.
Los Castillo
Known as Taller Los Castillo, it was one of the most prominent workshops in the late 30’s, it was funded by five Castillo brother silversmiths. It’s now in its third generation and one of the oldest shops still producing jewelry in Mexico. Their work was an experimentation with different materials, they used the marriage of metals and enameling and were influenced by Mesoamerican designs.
Matilde Eugenia Poulat
Matilde Poulat also known as Matl, was a silversmith from the 30’s. She had a start as a painter and transitioned into jewelry, her designs range from religious symbolisms to pieces inspired by the pre-conquest. Her work was part of a new cultural vision after the revolution. She was one of the first and few women to create her own workshop. Her work is recognized internationally and her family still continues her tradition.
Austreberto Aragon Garcia
Austreberto Aragon, was born in 1873 in Oaxaca, Mx. He was a fourth metalsmith generation, with a focus in knife making. His stylized and detailed aesthetic was different from the rest, his motifs and etching techniques on the blades were revolutionary at his time using flowers and fruits on his designs.
References:
Dreaming in Silver / Soñar en Plata: Silver Artists of Modern Mexico by Penny C. Morrill
Mexican Silver by Penny Chittim Morrill and Carole A. Berk
Fowler Museum
Museum Of International Folk Art
Correo del Maestro
The New York Times
LANG
Revista 192
Christie’s