Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2007


The Danish silversmith Georg Jensen (1866–1935) first established a worldwide reputation as a designer of flatware, hollowware, and jewelry in the arts and crafts idiom of the early twentieth century, then went on to become a foremost international designer of elegant and refined silver creations in the modernist style. This book surveys his work from his beginnings as a self-taught artist through his apprenticeship to a master silversmith and beyond. His work is highly sought after today, and he is considered one of the most influential designers of the twentieth century.

Richly illustrated, the book provides thorough, detailed coverage of the full range of Jensen’s jewelry. The contributors to the volume consider Jensen in the context of American modernist jewelry, the significance of the international exhibitions and World’s Fairs at which he first promoted his work, and the output of his company, where his own designs and those of current silversmiths working in related styles continue to be produced. Collectors, design historians, and admirers of Jensen’s original designs will be delighted with this splendid and wide-ranging display of his work.



David Taylor is a folklorist and curator at the Library of Congress. He has been conducting research on Georg Jensen for more than thirty years and has published a book on Jensen’s hollowware.


Table of Contents
Foreword
Susan Weber Soros

Introduction
David A. Taylor

Beginning with Adam and Eve: Georg Jensen and the Georg Jensen Company
David A. Taylor

Georg Jensen: A Man of His Time
Mirjam Gelfer-Jorgensen

The Art that is Life: Georg Jensen and the Viability of the Artist-Craftsman
Isabelle Anscombe

Braving the Modern: Georg Jensen Jewelry, 1925-1970
Toni Grennbaum

Building and International Reputation: The Georg Jensen Phenomenon in the United States, 1915-1973
Susan Weber Soros

Editor’s Note

Catalogue of the Exhibition

Checklist

Selected Biographies of Georg Jensen Jewelry Designers

Appendix: The Back Story

Bibliography

Index