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拍品專文
German-born Peter Müller-Munk (1904-67) immigrated to the United States in 1926. In an early surviving commentary on his work Müller-Munk equated the work of a silversmith with that of a "sculptor and an architect," and declared that the owner of a silver creation should value it with the same joy as the possessor of a Picasso.
He worked briefly for Tiffany & Co. and then opened his own studio on West 4th Street, in New York. In 1928-29, he participated in a number of significant industrial art exhibitions sponsored by Macy's, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Newark Museum. In the following decade Müller-Munk gained recognition as an industrial designer, first as an academic at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and then by establishing his own industrial design firm. Müller-Munk's silver has a strong emphasis on geometric shapes, and often reinterprets neoclassical designs with pared-down ornament. In 1964 Müller-Munk played a major role in creating the 12-story Unisphere, the centerpiece of the New York World's Fair in Queens. Today Müller-Munk is recognized as a founding father of American industrial design and the first major retrospective of his work is currently on view at the Carnegie Museum.
An ashtray set, of related form to the small compartments of the present tray, by Peter Müller-Munk, circa 1928 - 1931, is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (see, R. Delphia, J. Stern and C. Walworth, Silver to Steel: The Modern Designs of Peter Müller-Munk, Carneigie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2015). The arch motif of the present lot is one of the distinctive hallmarks of Müller-Munk's oeuvre.
He worked briefly for Tiffany & Co. and then opened his own studio on West 4th Street, in New York. In 1928-29, he participated in a number of significant industrial art exhibitions sponsored by Macy's, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Newark Museum. In the following decade Müller-Munk gained recognition as an industrial designer, first as an academic at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, and then by establishing his own industrial design firm. Müller-Munk's silver has a strong emphasis on geometric shapes, and often reinterprets neoclassical designs with pared-down ornament. In 1964 Müller-Munk played a major role in creating the 12-story Unisphere, the centerpiece of the New York World's Fair in Queens. Today Müller-Munk is recognized as a founding father of American industrial design and the first major retrospective of his work is currently on view at the Carnegie Museum.
An ashtray set, of related form to the small compartments of the present tray, by Peter Müller-Munk, circa 1928 - 1931, is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston (see, R. Delphia, J. Stern and C. Walworth, Silver to Steel: The Modern Designs of Peter Müller-Munk, Carneigie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, 2015). The arch motif of the present lot is one of the distinctive hallmarks of Müller-Munk's oeuvre.