Description
Fred Davis (1880-1961) Taxco Modernist sterling cufflinks 30mm x 11mm x 20.9<br>grams.Frederick W. Davis is known among collectors for his work as a jewelry<br>designer and silversmith based in Mexico City, Mexico. He began designing and<br>crafting jewelry and decorative objects in the 1920s. The wares he produced<br>often reflected his affinity for pre-Columbian artifacts. He occasionally<br>collaborated with Valentín Vidaurreta, another respected Mexican silver<br>craftsman with roots in Mexico City. Davis is credited as an avid promoter of<br>other silver artists, including William Spratling, who worked in Mexico from the<br>1920s through the 1950s. Frederick Davis Jewelry - HistoryDavis moved from the<br>United States to Mexico in 1910. Working as an assistant manager for the Sonora<br>News Company, he toured the country on buying trips to stock railway station<br>shops with native folk art for his employer. He established relationships with<br>many artisans during his travels, and his knowledge of Mexican crafts grew<br>extensively. His ardent work resulted in a promotion to manager of Sonora’s arts<br>and crafts showroom in Mexico City. René d’Harnoncourt, who later served as the<br>director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was employed by Davis in 1927<br>as an assistant. Their work together led to the company’s distribution and<br>exhibition of works by Mexican painters who are now well known, such as Diego<br>Rivera, among many others. During this era, Davis and d’Harnoncourt left an<br>indelible footprint on the trade of Mexican handcrafts, including silver<br>jewelry, from that point on. Davis took a position managing antiques and fine<br>crafts for Sanborn’s department store in 1933 after d’Harnoncourt moved to the<br>United States. He remained with the store for 20 years, where he continued to<br>promote Mexican art and artisans while designing and producing silver wares.<br>Davis died in 1961.
