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Excellence of Nekrassoff Craftsmanship Now Lost

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Salvatore Mete, Serge and Boris Nekrassoff stand by their crafted items in 1952. Although I owned this Art Ruhnke negative for many years, I did not know it until it was scanned recently by Martin Digital History. http://martindigitalhistory.com

Metal crafting entails the mastery of science. This article by Lionel Crawford, published in Science Illustrated in January, 1949 captures this truth.

The fluted dish belongs to my daughter, Jacqui Thurlow Lippisch. It shows a finished piece similar to the one illustrated in the article. It is hard for the uninitiated to comprehend the mastery of metallurgy required to produce such a piece. It also requires precision and artistic design. The enameling on Jacqui’s dish combines transparent and opaque enamel so the beauty of the copper shows through.

The use of enamels on the 11 inch copper plate is masterful. Serge Nekrassoff’s skill was unique and perhaps no one else will ever rival his artistic accomplishments with enamel on copper.
This small dish with an enameled Florida Scrub Jay is one of my favorite Nekrassoff pieces. I admire it daily with much pleasure.

This enameled hot sauce ladle shows Nekrassoff craftmanship.

This pedestal bowl was given to Mary and Dale Hudson as a wedding gift.

In 1962, my husband and I were also given a Nekrassoff piece for a wedding gift. It was given by Harold and Voncile Zercher whose home was very close to the Nekrassoff home on Willoughby Creek. It was my introduction to Nekrassoff enameling.

My understanding of Serge Nekrassoff’s evolving career has become clearer since I have been revisiting my files and adding to my knowledge through newspaperrs.com.newspapers.com

In interviews, Serge remarked that the tastes of customers in New York were different from those of his clients in South America. It shows how he changed his products to suit the market.

I now understand that Serge Nekrassoff’s copper enameling flourished after he opened his workshop in Stuart. The enameling he did before he moved to Florida was plain or textured but there is no evidence that he painted wildlife scenes or “trees of life” on his copper pieces.

In Martin County nature lovers abounded. Serge changed his merchandise to meet the demand. He was more than a craftsman. He was a fine artist who perfected painting with enamel in his 50s. When he embellished copper enameled pieces with birds and marine life, they sold quickly.

Nekrassoff creations were so much in demand, locally and with New York City’s high-end retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch, it was almost impossible to fill orders and still have enough pieces to display in the S. Nekrassoff & Son showroom on S. U.S. 1 in Stuart.

AT LEAST TWO MORE BLOGS ON THE NEKRASSOFFS AND COPPER ENAMELING WILL FOLLOW.