Extraordinary Design in 20th-Century Mexican Silver
Kathryn C. Buhler Lecture:
Penny Morrill, adjunct professor, George Mason University
For the past 85 years, in workshops all over the Mexican city of Taxco, rosewood, tortoise, obsidian, and amethyst quartz have been combined with silver to create jewelry and decorative objects inspired by pre-Columbian art and village crafts. In 1931, William Spratling founded Las Delicias, where hundreds of maestros and silversmiths were trained, many of whom went on to establish their own workshops. Examine the unprecedented variety of form and design that has brought the world to Taxco.