Server
1998 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
David Gackenbach’s solution to the challenge of designing a server centres on the exciting transition from two to three dimensions. His sheets of immaculately flat, highly polished silver remind one of paper, folded origami-style, that rise up into three-dimensional form-filling space with simplicity and boldness. A high level of technical skill and mastery of material is required to make this crisp and effective statement in silver.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Silver with a bevelled edge |
| Brief description | Silver, USA, Seattle, Washington State, 1998, designed and made by David Gackenbach |
| Physical description | The heptagonal, angular, fourteen-gauge blade is derived from a spatula form. The broad flat end can only lift, or enter a rectangular shaped pan. The blade is bevelled on three leading edges. The hollow handle is made of eighteen-gauge sheet in three sections and with an anticlastic under-section. Its angular shape compliments the blade. The handle cross-section diminishes constantly to the rear and the long taper seems just to miss dwindling to a line. The implement is highly polished on all surfaces. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Inscribed: G (for Gackenbach) / STERLING |
| Gallery label | This collection of silver slices, all commissioned over a period of twenty years by Professor Benton Seymour Rabinovitch FRS, is proof of the skill and diversity of contemporary silversmiths. Each artist craftsman has responded to the familiar functional form of the slice in an individual way, producing an astonishingly diverse range of interpretations. Each piece becomes an enchanting, decorative work of art. Professor Rabinovitch established a close rapport with each artist, always encouraging a freedom of creative expression. The response of these silversmiths has been not only to be strikingly imaginative but also to honour him by giving him their best work.
This collection is testimony to the significant contribution that one individual can make to supporting the craft of silversmithing. After commissioning work from some of the most illustrious names in British and North American silversmithing, Professor Rabinovitch has very generously donated his entire collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, through the American Friends of the V&A.(2005) |
| Credit line | Given by the American Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Professor B. Seymour Rabinovitch |
| Historical context | Part of a collection of fish slices commissioned by Professor Rabinovitch from contemporary North American and British makers. |
| Summary | David Gackenbach’s solution to the challenge of designing a server centres on the exciting transition from two to three dimensions. His sheets of immaculately flat, highly polished silver remind one of paper, folded origami-style, that rise up into three-dimensional form-filling space with simplicity and boldness. A high level of technical skill and mastery of material is required to make this crisp and effective statement in silver. |
| Bibliographic reference | Benton Seymour Rabinovitch and Helen Clifford, Contemporary Silver, commissioning designing collecting, London, Merrell, pp.122-3. ill. ISBN.1858941040 |
| Other number | LOAN:AMERICANFRIENDS.129-2005 - previous loan number |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | M.102-2008 |
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| Record created | May 12, 2008 |
| Record URL |
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