Henry Petzal Sterling Silver Wine Coaster

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Henry Petzal Sterling Silver Wine Coaster

About the Item

Being offered is a circa 1975 sterling silver wine coaster by Henry Petzal, handmade object with a seven pointed star pierced motif surrounding the circular dish. Dimensions 5 inches diameter. Weight a hefty 5 oz. Marked in excellent condition. Please see material below about artist by Jeannine Falino. Silver by Henry Petzal. No one who picks up a piece of silver made by Henry Petzal can forget its weighty heft and silken sheen. Large in scale, with generously shaped forms and chased designs, his work makes bold statements that are all the more astonishing from a maker who only began to fashion silver in his early fifties, with no prior metalsmithing experience or indeed training in the visual arts. Henry Petzal was born in Berlin in 1906 and arrived in New York in 1935, where he rose in the textile industry, working first in production, and later as an executive. His interest in metal came about by chance around 1957, shortly after his retirement. He happened upon some brass sheet in his New Jersey barn with which he made a small set of fluted plates. This experience was eye-opening. [MDA1] He recognized that he had an affinity for the metal, and with all the zest of a man who has found his métier, Petzal embarked on a new career as a silversmith. In 1959 Petzal undertook formal education as a silversmith at the Craft Students League, then located in the YWCA on Eighth Avenue in New York City. There, he studied under several accomplished artists including Rudi Schumacher, who made the celebrated brass doors for St. Bartholomew’s church on Park Avenue, and William Seitz, a well-regarded teacher who later published a textbook on metalsmithing. Petzal completed his education by attending chasing and repoussé classes with Danish-born silversmith and jeweler Adda Husted-Anderson, who also taught at the League and maintained a shop on First Avenue. Within a few years, Petzal had developed a repertoire of forms that included covered and open bowls, serving pieces, scalloped trays in several sizes, lively, petal-shaped candlesticks, and drinking cups. He began to seek venues to sell his work. In a stroke of luck, a photo shoot of his silver led to a successful meeting with representatives of the noted Cartier firm in Manhattan, who agreed to exhibit his work. In time, some of the most prestigious shops in the Northeastern United States, such as Shreve, Crump & Low in Boston, and J. E. Caldwell in Philadelphia, began to show his wares. These venues also led to private commissions and, in time, to the attention of museum curators. Petzal considered his approach similar to that practiced by preindustrial silversmiths such as Paul Revere, since he relied on training and physical strength, rather than modern machinery, to shape the metal. When his silver was shown at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in the late 1970s, Petzal was pleased to see that it was exhibited opposite Revere’s famed Liberty bowl. However, unlike Revere or his contemporaries who fabricated thin-walled vessels, Petzal executed most of his objects in heavier gauge silver. The sheer physicality of these works is immediately apparent, yet the gracefulness of their lines and the fullness of the forms make them a pleasure to turn to and fro in the hand, reflecting the light to good effect. The artist chose a distinct vocabulary of decorative devices, combined with a vernacular approach to functional form. Petzal favored oversized fish-scale or floral decoration on bowls and covered vessels, adding the occasional gilded accent or semiprecious stones such as lapis lazuli and malachite, always in a size and heft that left little doubt as to the maker of the work. Realizing that rarity is prized by collectors, Petzal established a limit of eight to each of his designs. He created stamps for the number in each series and for the year of its manufacture. In addition to his “HP” maker’s mark, the word “hand-wrought” also accompanied each finished work, a term associated more with Arts and Crafts–era silver than the later 20th century and another indication of the artist’s pride in his workmanship. Although he did not seem to seek fame, Petzel received several one-man exhibitions in New England, shortly after his move to Lenox, Massachusetts, in 1973. They were held at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1974); the Lawrence Museum at Williams College (1975); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1979), and the Currier Gallery of Art (now the Currier Museum of Art) in Manchester, New Hampshire (1987). He was represented in group exhibitions at the Monmouth Museum, Red Bank, New Jersey (1967); Pritam and Eames Gallery in East Hampton, New York (1992), the latter co-hosted by the Society of American Silversmiths, and the Mingei Museum, San Diego (2004). Largely as a result of these exhibitions, which brought his work to a wider audience, Petzal’s silver can be found in public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Currier Museum of Art, the Mingei Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Private collectors have included Lawrence and Eleanor Bloedel, William and Saundra Lane, and Margo Grant Walsh. Petzal retired to La Jolla, California, in about 1984, where he resided until his death in 2002. Throughout his silversmithing career, he remained true to form, unapologetic about his unconventional origins and adhering to simple goals that were indifferent to changes in fashion. In 1965, he stated that it was his personal Challenge “to make a piece that satisfies me technically, pleases me with its design, and fulfills the need of the person who ordered it.” His memoir stated: “I have no hereditary talent, no artistic family members. I had no formal art education and I am totally ignorant of the work done by others in hollowware. I belonged to no group, no organization, never subscribed to a trade paper and I am perfectly happy doing things my isolated way” [1]. Working as a silversmith in the world of functional objects, Petzal embraced the sculptural nature of his material as well as its reflective power. He created handsome objects that transcended their quotidian purpose to engage the viewer’s senses of sight and touch, and to captivate silver collectors, which they will do for many years to come. Jeannine Falino. Independent curator and museum consultant.

Creator:
Henry Petzal (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)Diameter: 5 in (12.7 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Sterling Silver
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
1975
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU85581915572