Reprint of Maine Antique Digest of May 2002
Serge S. Nekrassoff: The Metalworker as Nature Painter
by Dr. Henry Gans
Serge S. Nekrassoff, a Russian-American metalsmith, was a private person who is presently almost unknown. Since few have ever heard of him or know of his work, he and selected examples of his stylish oeuvre are briefly introduced here.
Biography
Born on February 10, 1895, into a Russian family of landed gentry who lived near St. Petersburg, Nekrassoff, after receiving a military education, served in World War I as a captain in the Czar's Imperial Guard. In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, he fled on foot to Germany where he worked in a coal mine for 18 months. He then went to Paris, where he found brief employment as a taxi driver and then worked for three years with a metalsmith who taught him to fashion basic everyday objects out of copper. Because he was a perfectionist, he eventually excelled in his work.
In Paris he met American doughboys who impressed him, and he decided to go to the United States. Unfortunately, he had no passport. He realized his dream, however, by first going to Buenos Aires, where he opened his first metal shop, which he operated from 1923 to 1925.
Passport in hand, Nekrassoff landed in Philadelphia in October 1925 but soon gravitated to the Russian community in New York City and opened a workshop on 14th Street in 1925. It was there that he met his future wife, Mary Leslie, a Russian who had been briefly married before and had a son, Boris, born in 1924. Serge adopted Boris at the time of his marriage to Mary in 1928.
In 1932 Nekrassoff moved to Darien, Connecticut, because of its superior school system. Able to greatly expand his operation in this his third workshop, he now produced many different objects. When the scarcity of metal during World War II made it impossible to continue production, he briefly took up photography. After the war, Boris, who had served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army, became Serge's partner, initially handling the business end of the firm, which was renamed S. Nekrassoff & Son.
In 1952 the family decided to move to Stuart, Florida, a small town on the Atlantic coast, approximately 35 miles north of Palm Beach; they had wintered there since 1939. Nekrassoff told the Stuart News, "It was the last uncrowded place in South Florida, and we liked the town and waterfront." They operated the shop in Stuart for 27 years.
Serge Nekrassoff retired in 1979 after having worked as a metalsmith for more than half a century. The business soon ceased to exist. He died in Stuart in December 1985.
Materials Used, Objects Produced, and Sales Outlets
Nekrassoff's workshops in his Darien, Connecticut, and Stuart, Florida, locations had showrooms built to his own specifications and of similar design. The range of objects he produced, at times with the help of as many as 18 metalworkers, all trained and closely supervised by him, consisted of custard jars, mustard jars, jam jars, bonbon dishes, sauce bowls, kitchen matchboxes for small and large wooden matches, candle snuffers, coffeepots and teapots, punch bowls, four-component serving trays, candlesticks, porringers, electric lamps, and almost any metal object commonly used around the house. He made neither jewelry nor flatware.
He worked almost exclusively in copper, pewter, and britannia metal, an alloy of tin with copper, antimony, and sometimes bismuth and zinc. Britannia metal has the look of silver but doesn't contain any lead, doesn't tarnish or turn black, and retains a high luster when buffed. One popular britannia metal item was an elongated leaf tray. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Nekrassoff rarely worked in silver, and then only to make objects for his own use. For a limited time, he took up silver-plating but soon abandoned it as being too cumbersome. These items usually bear the name "Nekrassoff" and a crest.
Most of what he and his men made was sold through Mollie Boynton Inc. at 225 Fifth Avenue, a major New York City wholesale house that catered to upscale jewelry shops, gift shops, and department stores, including B. Altmann, Ovington, Marshall Field, Spaulding, Neiman Marcus, Hartsfield, Shreve and Co., Jordan Marsh, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Black, Starr and Frost. He also sold individual items out of the showroom at his workplaces. After World War II, Boris would attend annual trade and gift fairs in New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where he would have a booth that displayed the objects they made. In Florida they produced a catalog that was sent to their best customers.
Design Considerations
Like any creative craftsman, Nekrassoff worked constantly on new designs. When he first opened his shop, he tried to sell items produced in the French high style that had been popular and salable in Buenos Aires. He soon realized, however, that Americans wanted their objects simpler, so his designs became less ornate almost overnight.
No one works in splendid isolation, and Nekrassoff was no exception. Several American metalsmiths were already operating their shops when he opened his in New York City. Their work, like that of the Roycrofters (1895-1938) who preceded him and sold their wares in major department stores and gift shops, was readily available, thus it is not inconceivable that he was influenced by it. A circa 1921 center bowl by Marie Zimmermann (1878-1972), an acclaimed metalsmith who also worked in copper, clearly resembles one of his pieces. Since illustrations of her work appeared regularly in the Arts and Crafts journals of that time, it is hard to imagine that he didn't know of her work or that his bowl didn't evolve with hers in mind.
The Kalo Shop (1900-1970) of Chicago, which had a retail outlet in New York City from 1914 to 1918, the Heintz Art Metal Shop (1906-1935) of Buffalo, New York, with a Manhattan outlet at 6 West 40th Street, Tiffany & Co., the Stickleys, and Georg Jensen were all active contemporaries whose products were highly visible and must have exerted some influence on his work. Items by Tiffany and Georg Jensen were almost always first-rate in workmanship, quality, and design and clearly oriented toward an upper-level market. Nekrassoff's objects were simpler, less sophisticated, and made from base metals; being far cheaper, they were aimed at a middle- or lower-level market.
It is possible to trace some of the influences on his work, yet where individual objects undoubtedly resemble those produced by others, the differences are such that each object, like that by any fine craftsman, bears his distinct stamp. They speak their own language!
His son has indicated that an important source of Nekrassoff's inspiration was Old Pewter, Brass, Copper, and Sheffield Plate by N. Hudson Moore, a book his wife bought him in 1936. It dealt with some of the Connecticut pewterers of the 1770's, such as the Danforth family of Middletown, Connecticut. Some of Serge's basic shapes seem to hark back to designs from the colonial period with contemporary embellishments or ornamentation added.
Whatever his sources might have been at any one time, whenever he returned to Connecticut from Florida, he would have with him a stack of sketches of new designs. Considering the range of objects he developed and produced, it is obvious that he was successful in combining the need to make a living with the opportunity to satisfy personal aesthetic desires.
Nekrassoff as Employer and Teacher
In New York City two men worked full time in his shop. In Darien, Connecticut, before the Second World War, as many as 18 craftsmen worked at one time in his shop, but after the war he never employed more than ten. In Stuart, Florida, four men normally worked with him, including two who had previously worked with him in Darien and had moved to Stuart.
He required that everyone working with him had to create his own design book and had to describe the making of each piece, with special emphasis on technical details, such as how to raise, spin, fire, enamel, and buff or polish it, and how to prepare the molds used for ornamentation, plus give specifics as to the size of the metal, the gauge of the wire, or the motif number to be used. Nekrassoff took great pride in his work and detested sloppiness; he would lay down the law with this stern admonition: "Do it my way, or don't do it at all." Clearly, he took pleasure in the labor and delight in the result, and he expected the same from his coworkers.
In 1924 Georg Jensen opened a shop in New York City, just before Nekrassoff came to Manhattan. Certain similarities in the details of their designs suggest that they knew of each other's work. For instance, Jensen's tulip design is reminiscent of Nekrassoff's (Nekrassoff cast his tulips and balls in plaster of Paris molds, of which he kept a fair supply in stock). According to Boris, Jensen tried unsuccessfully to hire Nekrassoff as one of his designers shortly after Serge arrived in New York City.
Serge Nekrassoff's work and, later, Boris's melds form and function in unique ways. Characteristic and easily recognizable——those familiar with it can readily recognize it among the work of others——it has all the design features of the Arts and Crafts movement and covers a wide range of objects made for use in the home. Not only were they functional and practical, they were elegant, distinct, and different. Their charm and character make them a delight to own and live with.
Each object was cut from metal sheets and then hammered by hand into the required form without the aid of a machine. A detailed, illustrated account of the techniques used in his shop and as demonstrated by him in raising flat pieces of copper into hollow vessels or other utilitarian objects can be found in the January 1949 issue of Science Illustrated.
Recognition for His work
The quality, design, and execution of Nekrassoff's work stands up well against the products of other major metalworkers of that era, including Spratling and Aguilar in Mexico, David Anderson in Norway, Georg Jensen in Denmark, the Kalo Shops in Chicago, Clemens Friedel in Pasadena, Marie Zimmermann in New York City, and Jean Puiforcat or Albert Cheuret in France. His work is distinctive and has characteristics that make it specifically his, products that couldn't possibly have been done by anyone else.
The late Robert Bishop, when he was director of the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, admired and avidly collected Nekrassoff's work. In August 1990 Bishop and Professor Ruth Newman of New York University were instrumental in organizing a retrospective exhibit of his work at the Washington Avenue East Galleries in New York City with Ingela Helgesson Semels serving as its guest curator. (Unfortunately, no one seems to know what happened to Dr. Bishop's extensive collection of Nekrassoff objects.) The catalog of this exhibit is important for the dating of individual objects.
Dr. Bishop was not alone in his appreciation for Nekrassoff's work. Many people are collecting it, especially in Florida. Ten years ago his objects could be readily found at antiques or modern design shows, but lately it has become almost impossible to do so.
Signatures
When in New York he signed his work as "Nekras," occasionally followed by a number (which was used for ordering from the wholesaler), or as "S. Nekrassoff." In Darien he would sign it "S. Nekrassoff" or "Nekrassoff" with a decorative crest. Some of his objects are marked "Britannia." Presently, no examples from his Paris or Buenos Aires period are known.
His Last Works: Nature Paintings in Enamel on Copper
Pewter became more expensive after the Second World War, so Nekrassoff returned to working mainly in copper, which he would decorate with richly colored enamels. Initially the enamel designs were abstract and almost monochromatic, but later they became more representative as bright polychrome paintings of fishes, animals, birds, and trees that expressed the Nekrassoff family's abiding interest in Florida's richly varied flora and fauna.
Although only a very minor part of his oeuvre, these colorful and finely executed nature plates included depictions of goldfinches, cardinals, cedar waxwings, chickadees, kingfishers, bald eagles, Florida jays, cranes, pelicans, owls, cardinals, sea horses, bass, and more. All were painstakingly done and usually only after checking illustrations in nature books to insure their accuracy. They are specially emphasized here because they were his final productions. Time-consuming to make, they required many firings to obtain the proper colors and shadings.
After getting up early in the morning while everyone was still asleep, so nothing would distract him, Nekrassoff proceeded to do the enameling (as cursorily recorded in the Stuart News) "...by first spraying the copper product [e.g., plate, bowl, box] with a liquid glue to hold the coloration, work which is all done by hand by the firm's founder Serge S. Nekrassoff. In most cases the coloration on the copper products is effected by sprinkling a powderlike material on the glue-sprayed copper, which actually is a very finely ground glass to which is added assorted minerals to give a wide variety of colors. [This is subjected to the first firing.] Then a commercial enamel overlay [a finely ground powder mixed in oil] is applied [by brush], and the product is placed in an electric kiln and heated to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit to bake the design on it. The kiln's operation is left exclusively to Nekrassoff's son Boris. When cooling has been completed by natural process in about 24 hours, the product is ready for its final steps. Oxidation smears are deftly removed with an emery wheel and a final coat of lacquer is applied."
At times, the firings and repainting would go through as many as seven or eight cycles. "More elaborate details, more exact shading, more precise coloring is added with each new painting. Delicate leaves and branches intertwine, claws and feathers, scales and butterfly wings are all clearly detailed," reads the newspaper article.
After he finished his morning's work, especially during the last four or five years when he was slowing down, Serge would take the rest of the day off to work in the garden, read a book (he was fluent in at least six languages), or do an oil painting for his own pleasure.
The nature plates were made by special order, and people were willing to wait years to obtain one. Each came with a small printed card specially made to go with it, stating, "A future Heirloom, by Serge S. Nekrassoff, Master Enamelist."
Serge S. Nekrassoff: The Metalworker as Nature Painter
by Dr. Henry Gans
Serge S. Nekrassoff, a Russian-American metalsmith, was a private person who is presently almost unknown. Since few have ever heard of him or know of his work, he and selected examples of his stylish oeuvre are briefly introduced here.
Biography
Born on February 10, 1895, into a Russian family of landed gentry who lived near St. Petersburg, Nekrassoff, after receiving a military education, served in World War I as a captain in the Czar's Imperial Guard. In 1917, during the Russian Revolution, he fled on foot to Germany where he worked in a coal mine for 18 months. He then went to Paris, where he found brief employment as a taxi driver and then worked for three years with a metalsmith who taught him to fashion basic everyday objects out of copper. Because he was a perfectionist, he eventually excelled in his work.
In Paris he met American doughboys who impressed him, and he decided to go to the United States. Unfortunately, he had no passport. He realized his dream, however, by first going to Buenos Aires, where he opened his first metal shop, which he operated from 1923 to 1925.
Passport in hand, Nekrassoff landed in Philadelphia in October 1925 but soon gravitated to the Russian community in New York City and opened a workshop on 14th Street in 1925. It was there that he met his future wife, Mary Leslie, a Russian who had been briefly married before and had a son, Boris, born in 1924. Serge adopted Boris at the time of his marriage to Mary in 1928.
In 1932 Nekrassoff moved to Darien, Connecticut, because of its superior school system. Able to greatly expand his operation in this his third workshop, he now produced many different objects. When the scarcity of metal during World War II made it impossible to continue production, he briefly took up photography. After the war, Boris, who had served as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army, became Serge's partner, initially handling the business end of the firm, which was renamed S. Nekrassoff & Son.
In 1952 the family decided to move to Stuart, Florida, a small town on the Atlantic coast, approximately 35 miles north of Palm Beach; they had wintered there since 1939. Nekrassoff told the Stuart News, "It was the last uncrowded place in South Florida, and we liked the town and waterfront." They operated the shop in Stuart for 27 years.
Serge Nekrassoff retired in 1979 after having worked as a metalsmith for more than half a century. The business soon ceased to exist. He died in Stuart in December 1985.
Materials Used, Objects Produced, and Sales Outlets
Nekrassoff's workshops in his Darien, Connecticut, and Stuart, Florida, locations had showrooms built to his own specifications and of similar design. The range of objects he produced, at times with the help of as many as 18 metalworkers, all trained and closely supervised by him, consisted of custard jars, mustard jars, jam jars, bonbon dishes, sauce bowls, kitchen matchboxes for small and large wooden matches, candle snuffers, coffeepots and teapots, punch bowls, four-component serving trays, candlesticks, porringers, electric lamps, and almost any metal object commonly used around the house. He made neither jewelry nor flatware.
He worked almost exclusively in copper, pewter, and britannia metal, an alloy of tin with copper, antimony, and sometimes bismuth and zinc. Britannia metal has the look of silver but doesn't contain any lead, doesn't tarnish or turn black, and retains a high luster when buffed. One popular britannia metal item was an elongated leaf tray. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Nekrassoff rarely worked in silver, and then only to make objects for his own use. For a limited time, he took up silver-plating but soon abandoned it as being too cumbersome. These items usually bear the name "Nekrassoff" and a crest.
Most of what he and his men made was sold through Mollie Boynton Inc. at 225 Fifth Avenue, a major New York City wholesale house that catered to upscale jewelry shops, gift shops, and department stores, including B. Altmann, Ovington, Marshall Field, Spaulding, Neiman Marcus, Hartsfield, Shreve and Co., Jordan Marsh, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Black, Starr and Frost. He also sold individual items out of the showroom at his workplaces. After World War II, Boris would attend annual trade and gift fairs in New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where he would have a booth that displayed the objects they made. In Florida they produced a catalog that was sent to their best customers.
Design Considerations
Like any creative craftsman, Nekrassoff worked constantly on new designs. When he first opened his shop, he tried to sell items produced in the French high style that had been popular and salable in Buenos Aires. He soon realized, however, that Americans wanted their objects simpler, so his designs became less ornate almost overnight.
No one works in splendid isolation, and Nekrassoff was no exception. Several American metalsmiths were already operating their shops when he opened his in New York City. Their work, like that of the Roycrofters (1895-1938) who preceded him and sold their wares in major department stores and gift shops, was readily available, thus it is not inconceivable that he was influenced by it. A circa 1921 center bowl by Marie Zimmermann (1878-1972), an acclaimed metalsmith who also worked in copper, clearly resembles one of his pieces. Since illustrations of her work appeared regularly in the Arts and Crafts journals of that time, it is hard to imagine that he didn't know of her work or that his bowl didn't evolve with hers in mind.
The Kalo Shop (1900-1970) of Chicago, which had a retail outlet in New York City from 1914 to 1918, the Heintz Art Metal Shop (1906-1935) of Buffalo, New York, with a Manhattan outlet at 6 West 40th Street, Tiffany & Co., the Stickleys, and Georg Jensen were all active contemporaries whose products were highly visible and must have exerted some influence on his work. Items by Tiffany and Georg Jensen were almost always first-rate in workmanship, quality, and design and clearly oriented toward an upper-level market. Nekrassoff's objects were simpler, less sophisticated, and made from base metals; being far cheaper, they were aimed at a middle- or lower-level market.
It is possible to trace some of the influences on his work, yet where individual objects undoubtedly resemble those produced by others, the differences are such that each object, like that by any fine craftsman, bears his distinct stamp. They speak their own language!
His son has indicated that an important source of Nekrassoff's inspiration was Old Pewter, Brass, Copper, and Sheffield Plate by N. Hudson Moore, a book his wife bought him in 1936. It dealt with some of the Connecticut pewterers of the 1770's, such as the Danforth family of Middletown, Connecticut. Some of Serge's basic shapes seem to hark back to designs from the colonial period with contemporary embellishments or ornamentation added.
Whatever his sources might have been at any one time, whenever he returned to Connecticut from Florida, he would have with him a stack of sketches of new designs. Considering the range of objects he developed and produced, it is obvious that he was successful in combining the need to make a living with the opportunity to satisfy personal aesthetic desires.
Nekrassoff as Employer and Teacher
In New York City two men worked full time in his shop. In Darien, Connecticut, before the Second World War, as many as 18 craftsmen worked at one time in his shop, but after the war he never employed more than ten. In Stuart, Florida, four men normally worked with him, including two who had previously worked with him in Darien and had moved to Stuart.
He required that everyone working with him had to create his own design book and had to describe the making of each piece, with special emphasis on technical details, such as how to raise, spin, fire, enamel, and buff or polish it, and how to prepare the molds used for ornamentation, plus give specifics as to the size of the metal, the gauge of the wire, or the motif number to be used. Nekrassoff took great pride in his work and detested sloppiness; he would lay down the law with this stern admonition: "Do it my way, or don't do it at all." Clearly, he took pleasure in the labor and delight in the result, and he expected the same from his coworkers.
In 1924 Georg Jensen opened a shop in New York City, just before Nekrassoff came to Manhattan. Certain similarities in the details of their designs suggest that they knew of each other's work. For instance, Jensen's tulip design is reminiscent of Nekrassoff's (Nekrassoff cast his tulips and balls in plaster of Paris molds, of which he kept a fair supply in stock). According to Boris, Jensen tried unsuccessfully to hire Nekrassoff as one of his designers shortly after Serge arrived in New York City.
Serge Nekrassoff's work and, later, Boris's melds form and function in unique ways. Characteristic and easily recognizable——those familiar with it can readily recognize it among the work of others——it has all the design features of the Arts and Crafts movement and covers a wide range of objects made for use in the home. Not only were they functional and practical, they were elegant, distinct, and different. Their charm and character make them a delight to own and live with.
Each object was cut from metal sheets and then hammered by hand into the required form without the aid of a machine. A detailed, illustrated account of the techniques used in his shop and as demonstrated by him in raising flat pieces of copper into hollow vessels or other utilitarian objects can be found in the January 1949 issue of Science Illustrated.
Recognition for His work
The quality, design, and execution of Nekrassoff's work stands up well against the products of other major metalworkers of that era, including Spratling and Aguilar in Mexico, David Anderson in Norway, Georg Jensen in Denmark, the Kalo Shops in Chicago, Clemens Friedel in Pasadena, Marie Zimmermann in New York City, and Jean Puiforcat or Albert Cheuret in France. His work is distinctive and has characteristics that make it specifically his, products that couldn't possibly have been done by anyone else.
The late Robert Bishop, when he was director of the American Folk Art Museum in New York City, admired and avidly collected Nekrassoff's work. In August 1990 Bishop and Professor Ruth Newman of New York University were instrumental in organizing a retrospective exhibit of his work at the Washington Avenue East Galleries in New York City with Ingela Helgesson Semels serving as its guest curator. (Unfortunately, no one seems to know what happened to Dr. Bishop's extensive collection of Nekrassoff objects.) The catalog of this exhibit is important for the dating of individual objects.
Dr. Bishop was not alone in his appreciation for Nekrassoff's work. Many people are collecting it, especially in Florida. Ten years ago his objects could be readily found at antiques or modern design shows, but lately it has become almost impossible to do so.
Signatures
When in New York he signed his work as "Nekras," occasionally followed by a number (which was used for ordering from the wholesaler), or as "S. Nekrassoff." In Darien he would sign it "S. Nekrassoff" or "Nekrassoff" with a decorative crest. Some of his objects are marked "Britannia." Presently, no examples from his Paris or Buenos Aires period are known.
His Last Works: Nature Paintings in Enamel on Copper
Pewter became more expensive after the Second World War, so Nekrassoff returned to working mainly in copper, which he would decorate with richly colored enamels. Initially the enamel designs were abstract and almost monochromatic, but later they became more representative as bright polychrome paintings of fishes, animals, birds, and trees that expressed the Nekrassoff family's abiding interest in Florida's richly varied flora and fauna.
Although only a very minor part of his oeuvre, these colorful and finely executed nature plates included depictions of goldfinches, cardinals, cedar waxwings, chickadees, kingfishers, bald eagles, Florida jays, cranes, pelicans, owls, cardinals, sea horses, bass, and more. All were painstakingly done and usually only after checking illustrations in nature books to insure their accuracy. They are specially emphasized here because they were his final productions. Time-consuming to make, they required many firings to obtain the proper colors and shadings.
After getting up early in the morning while everyone was still asleep, so nothing would distract him, Nekrassoff proceeded to do the enameling (as cursorily recorded in the Stuart News) "...by first spraying the copper product [e.g., plate, bowl, box] with a liquid glue to hold the coloration, work which is all done by hand by the firm's founder Serge S. Nekrassoff. In most cases the coloration on the copper products is effected by sprinkling a powderlike material on the glue-sprayed copper, which actually is a very finely ground glass to which is added assorted minerals to give a wide variety of colors. [This is subjected to the first firing.] Then a commercial enamel overlay [a finely ground powder mixed in oil] is applied [by brush], and the product is placed in an electric kiln and heated to 1550 degrees Fahrenheit to bake the design on it. The kiln's operation is left exclusively to Nekrassoff's son Boris. When cooling has been completed by natural process in about 24 hours, the product is ready for its final steps. Oxidation smears are deftly removed with an emery wheel and a final coat of lacquer is applied."
At times, the firings and repainting would go through as many as seven or eight cycles. "More elaborate details, more exact shading, more precise coloring is added with each new painting. Delicate leaves and branches intertwine, claws and feathers, scales and butterfly wings are all clearly detailed," reads the newspaper article.
After he finished his morning's work, especially during the last four or five years when he was slowing down, Serge would take the rest of the day off to work in the garden, read a book (he was fluent in at least six languages), or do an oil painting for his own pleasure.
The nature plates were made by special order, and people were willing to wait years to obtain one. Each came with a small printed card specially made to go with it, stating, "A future Heirloom, by Serge S. Nekrassoff, Master Enamelist."