Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé - University of Louisiana at Lafayette

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The University Art Museum exhibition is composed of more than 300 pieces, including some that have never been displayed before. “There’s an elegance in the design of this handcrafted silver that seems heightened this time of year.” Martelé was an exclusive line of handtooled silver produced from the 1880s to the 1930s for Gorham Silver Company. Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé: American Art Nouveau Silver, The Jolie and Robert Shelton Collection is the largest and most comprehensive private collection of Martelé silver in the world. The University Art Museum exhibition is composed of more than 300 pieces, including some that have never been displayed before. The collection represents nearly every form produced in Vase, 1902, by chaser William Gray, Collection New Orleans Museum of Art, Jolie and Robert Shelton Collection the Martelé line, including tea and coffee services, punchbowls, fish sets, candelabra, loving cups, tankards, vases, inkstands, PHILIP GOULD COLLECTORS SHARE THEIR TREASURES Jolie and Robert Shelton have amassed the largest private collection of Martelé silver. The Martelé silver exhibit at University Art Museum represents the decade long efforts of Lafayette art collectors Jolie and Robert Shelton. Jolie Shelton spotted a handsome Martelé water pitcher at a Morton M. Goldberg auction in New Orleans in 1995. She entered the bidding. Robert Shelton still remembers what she told him then: “I don’t know what it is, but it’s beautiful.” The couple bought the pitcher and later learned that it was part of Gorham Manufacturing Company’s Martelé line. They soon identified the important scholars and collectors of Martelé, started studying the distinctive artwork and began to amass their own collection. Mark Tullos, deputy director of the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, said the Sheltons exemplify the importance of the private collector to museums and society. “A number of objects in the collection are part of the New Orleans Museum of Art collection because Robert and Jolie donated them. The Sheltons have also made significant contributions to University Art Museum’s collections, as well as other public and private museums,” he said. “All too often, museums don’t have the funds to secure collections. So they rely heavily on collectors such as the Sheltons, who have the desire and means to assemble collections. Thanks to their time and effort, the public gets to enjoy artwork that the museum may not otherwise have been able to offer.” Julie Bolton Falgout, executive director of the UL Lafayette Foundation, said the Sheltons have been generous, longtime supporters of the university and, especially, the school’s art program. “They have donated numerous works of art, many of them Rodrigue originals, to our permanent art collection. We are truly grateful to Jolie and Robert Shelton for their generosity to our university,” she said. “When the Martelé silver exhibit was being planned for the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, the Sheltons decided to appropriately dedicate it to their longtime friends Dick and Chantal Dowty. The Dowtys also have a long history of supporting the university and were lead donors for the construction of the Foundation building on East St. Mary Boulevard in 2000.” ■ LA LOUISIANE | FALL 2005 47 PHILIP GOULD
sauceboats and centerpieces. A highlight of the exhibition is a 12-foot dining room table with a full service setting for eight. “The table display will provide museum visitors with a sense of how these objects were used,” said John Keefe, curator of Decorative Arts at the New Orleans Museum of Art and organizer of the exhibition. Another object featured in Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé is a massive 32-inch centerpiece, part of a service commissioned by millionaire oilman Harry Ford Sinclair. It took over 500 craftsman hours to create. It seems to be one of Robert Shelton’s favorite pieces. “You can bathe four babies in it,” he noted, adding that it weighs 35 pounds. He is a walking encyclopedia of Martelé silver information whose fascination with the artwork is contagious. The Gorham firm was founded in 1831 by Jabez Gorham, who at the time was a small provincial jewelry maker. It would become a mammoth and influential manufacturer of a wide variety of silver wares. Love Cup: 8982, Circa 1897, but completed in 1898, Chaser: Unrecorded, The Jolie and Robert Shelton Collection 48 LA LOUISIANE | FALL 2005 Robert Shelton attends to details before the exhibition opens. By 1900, Gorham Manufacturing was the largest silver manufacturer in the world and occupied a sprawling state-of-the-art factory in Providence, R.I. Throughout its rapid growth and expansion, the company distinguished itself by successfully combining the latest technological advances with exemplary design. Martelé, named from the French verb “to hammer,” was a departure from Gorham’s machine-made commercial flatware and hollowware. Each piece was first created by a silversmith, then decorated by a chaser. Because it was handcrafted, Martelé was expensive. So, it was made in small quantities, usually as individual pieces or small sets. No pieces were duplicated; each is unique. Buyers were the wealthy of the day. A single pitcher may have cost $1,500, three times the cost of a house at the time, according to Robert Shelton. It’s estimated that 7,000 to 8,000 pieces were made. Many were melted for their silver whenever the price for silver soared. Only about 1,700 to 1,800 exist today. University Art Museum’s 5,000-square-foot gallery has been divided into seven galleries representing different periods in the Martelé line’s evolution and development. Tullos noted that visiting the Martelé exhibit can be relaxing during the busy holidays. “When you visit a museum and spend time with great works of art, you tend to leave behind, for just a few moments, all the things that may be burdening you. “Awesome creations like this Martelé silver collection can be inspiring and lift you above whatever you may be struggling with in your personal life. It’s an escape, in a way, an escape to a different time in history, when things were simpler. “You really have to slow down in this exhibition, too. It’s not something you can give a cursory glance and fully appreciate. The Martelé silver will draw you in.” ■ PHILIP GOULD Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé: American Art Nouveau Silver, The Jolie and Robert Shelton Collection runs through Dec. 31. An innovative MP3 audio tour of the silver exhibition was developed by the UL Lafayette College of the Arts. It is available for download at http://arts.louisiana.edu University Art Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and on Sunday from 1-5 p.m. It’s closed on Monday. For general museum information, phone (337) 482-2ART. ■ www.louisiana.edu/uam
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Magnificent, Marvelous Martelé - University of Louisiana at Lafayette

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