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Contemporary Contrasts at the Gilbert Collection
15th October - 31st January

This exhibition of some of the finest contemporary British silver is the museum's contribution to The British Art Season, a celebration of the achievements of British art and design through special exhibitions to be held at museums and galleries throughout the UK, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Flatware by Lucian Taylor, 1995

Opportunities to see contemporary silver are extremely rare particularly as many are private commissions so are not normally accessible to the public. The Gilbert Collection is therefore grateful to the Crafts Council, The Makower Trust, private owners and leading silversmiths for their collaboration which provides an unprecedented opportunity for visitors to encounter the inventive energy of the silversmiths of today within the calm elegance of the Gilbert Collection's Silver Gallery.

As London's latest and perhaps most glamorous museum with its unparalleled collection of some 300 pieces of silver, the Gilbert Collection provides a perfect setting for a dialogue between old and new. The best of today's silver from British designers and makers, from the well known such as Jocelyn Burton to newcomers such as Linda Robertson, are shown side by side with comparable pieces made by the great masters of the past.

The Crafts Council has the leading collection of contemporary silver in the UK and they are lending commissioned pieces which have not been exhibited in central London before. In addition private patrons have generously lent commissions which give a rare insight into the creative marriage of a patron's taste and purse with the silversmith's skill and invention. Labels with comments from makers and owners explain the personal relationship and emotional energy which develops through the commissioning process.

Silver punch bowl and spoon by Ndidi Ekubia

Among the commissioned pieces are Rod Kelly's commemorative candlesticks beaten with heather and roses which is shown near a pair of Jacobean steeple cups bearing lilies, the new and the old exemplifying the English love of the natural world that runs through four centuries. The pieces strike a balance between the delicacy of these natural motifs and the late 20th century preoccupation with technological sophistication and simplicity of form. In antithesis, David Clarke's Orgy, three steel, glass and silver vases filled with orchids, sit beside the suave restrained Parisian basin and ewer commissioned for William Beckford some 200 years ago. Another interesting juxtaposition is Ndidi Ekubia's 1999 boldly-curved punch bowl standing beside the sophisticated wine coolers created by a Genoese silversmith in 1777, while the precise and expressive chasing of Rod Kelly and Michael Lloyd is contrasted with the delicate boys in foliage created by a skilled London chaser in the 1690s.

Christopher Lawrence's Britannia sconces with gilded lilies devised for a special birthday present are shown near the large pair of silver-gilt sconces designed by Daniel Marot and made by Paul de Lamerie around 1720 while Anthony Elson's pair of beakers with wine and flower motifs made for an anniversary can be compared with the grand gilded Stuart cups of state. Ornamentation and surface enrichment are typical both of the tureens and candlesticks created for the Duke of York and Duke of Norfolk in the 18th and 19th centuries and of the silver created by Jocelyn Burton or Lucian Taylor in the 1990s. Silver can be manipulated in so many ways and its attributes are now being explored with fresh enthusiasm in a reaction against the modernist aesthetic which dominated so much of the past half century.

Water jug by Anthony Elson, 1999

Satisfying to handle, gleaming by candlelight and embodying the honour due to guests, silver has always been central to the art of elegant hospitality. During this special showing at the Gilbert Collection, contrasting table settings cluster around Paul de Lamerie's tureen and candelabra, Clive Burr's chopsticks sitting beside Andreas Fabian's pared-down minimalism. Elsewhere elements from the largest private table service commissioned in recent years demonstrate the design and craftsmanship of Martyn Pugh.

Techniques for working silver - embossing, chasing, casting - are as demanding today as they ever were, but the effects achieved differ from maker to maker almost as much as in the past when the raw material for silver was costly but the workmanship inexpensive. The massive tureens or candelabra created by Regency workshops were costed by weight with an allowance on top for 'fashion'. Today the reverse is true. An individual commission may take days of meticulous work - to flat chase a square inch takes at least an hour - while other makers experiment with new alloys (Germanium) to reduce tarnish, a perceived drawback of silver in today's busy world. These economic and practical realities are explored in commentaries and the visitor's trail that has benn created for this special event.

In addition to the opportunity to commission a piece from the designers whose work is on show in the exhibition, the shop at the Gilbert Collection is selling original pieces by some of the craftsmen such as Malcolm Appleby, Clive Burr, Richard Fox and Lucian Taylor. The shop is also selling a range of contemporary silver gifts and jewellery as well as other gifts inspired by the Gilbert Collection.

Every object in the Silver Gallery of the Gilbert Collection was originally made for use, something that may be forgotten when they are seen in the frozen setting of a showcase. The loan of these pieces of contemporary work demonstrates that silver has lost none of its centuries-old appeal, with its power both to express celebration and commemoration and to be of practical use. By showing the best of the new alongside the best of the old, visitors are offered visual surprises and stimulation whether or not they have already seen the astonishing Gilbert Collection which was given to the nation by the late Sir Arthur Gilbert and opened to the public in May 2000.

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