Russian Silver in America

These objects represent some of the themes featured in Hillwood’s new publication Russian Silver in America: Surviving the Melting Pot by Anne Odom. Odom surveys Russian silver production—its changing forms, styles, imagery, and techniques—over more than 250 years. A subtext of the book explains how so much Russian silver found its way into American collections in the 1920s and 1930s. These were the years when the Soviet government was selling fine and decorative art to finance industrialization. The objects highlighted in this web exhibition were all assembled by Hillwood’s founder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, although many from other American museums are featured in the book.