Richard Mawdsley (American, b. 1945) Silver and Gold Belt Buckle, USA, circa 1970

Fabricated and manipulated silver tubing, gold, semiprecious stone
Stamped to reverse: "RM, Sterling, 14k"

H: 6 1/4, W: 3 3/8, D: 7/8 in.

Literature

Susan Cummins et al., In Flux: American Jewelry and the Counterculture, Arnoldsche, Stuttgart, 2020, pp. 29, 102-105, 121, 154-156 (for a discussion of the artist and related works)
Janet Koplos, "Richard Mawdsley's Tubular Fantasies." American Craft, April/May, 1983 (related works illustrated and discussed)

Artist Biography

Metalsmith and jeweler Richard Mawdsley was born in Winfield, Kansas in 1945 and received his M.F.A. from the University of Kansas in 1969. In 1978, he joined the faculty of the School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University, where he would teach for the next 26 years. Mawdsley’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout his career—in twelve countries on three different continents—including one-person shows at the Ornamental Metal Museum (1987) and Helen Drutt Gallery (1977 and 1983). He is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowships (1977-78 and 1994-95) and was named the Metal Museum’s Master Metalsmith in 1987. His work has been collected by several notable museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. Motivated by a lifelong interest in machinery and the history of European metalwork, Mawdsley’s intricate fabrications—often soldered tubing—explore far-reaching subjects, from mythology to the natural world.

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist

Property from the Robert L. Pfannebecker Collection