Description
Published in late 2014 as a follow-up to the author’s acclaimed Bay Area Copper, 1900-1950, this beautifully illustrated book focuses on the life and work of Dirk van Erp, perhaps the greatest coppersmith of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Van Erp’s workshop was one of the few period craft shops to prosper throughout the Arts and Crafts period and continue successful operations into the 1970’s. The book was published to accompany a comprehensive exhibition of van Erp’s work in Berkeley, CA in 2014, and includes many exquisite color photographs of van Erp’s masterworks as displayed in the exhibition. The scholarly text detailing the life of Dirk van Erp (and the life of his son William who continued the shop until his death in 1977) is based almost entirely on primary source material, using newspaper articles, census data, museum archives, and original photos and documents from the van Erp family. This is perhaps the most complete and authoritative work published about the man and his work.
