Pair of Toasting Goblets
These fanciful goblets were made by the inventive silversmith and sculptor Earl Krentzin. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Krentzin was born and raised in Detroit. He benefitted from Detroit’s progressive educational system, which prioritized art in its curricula. In secondary school, he studied art, engineering, and mechanical drawing and received instruction in metallurgy and metalworking. While a student at Wayne University (now Wayne State University), he became an accomplished printmaker. He went on to graduate school at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where he devoted most of his time to studying silversmithing. During his long career, he worked as a sculptor and art professor; he also spent a few years after graduating from Cranbrook as a model maker of instrument panel details for Chrysler Automobile Company.
Krentzin’s work defies concise characterization. His sculptures are whimsical, idiosyncratic creations that reflect a passion for toys, storytelling, and humor. The art critic Frank Getlein likened Krentzin’s creations to "Peter Carl Fabergé after designs by Hieronymous Bosch," and Krentzin has been variously described as "Fabergé of Detroit," "metal’s dean of fun and fantasy," a "happy blend of Cellini and Dr. Seuss," and a maker of "toys for sophisticates." Of himself and his work Krentzin said, "I have fun. Sometimes people look down on what I do as not being serious enough. But humor always has been a part of art. And artists know how to preserve part of their childhood." Krentzin was a virtuoso metalsmith whose oeuvre features anthropomorphic figures—human, animal, and otherworldly—engaged in solitary and communal pursuits that are often acrobatic and gravity defying. He eschewed the smooth surfaces and clean lines of the Scandinavian modern aesthetic that enjoyed favor among designers, artists, and silversmiths of his day. Instead, he created dynamic compositions with textured surfaces. While at the Royal College of Art in London on a Fulbright fellowship in 1957, Krentzin found inspiration not in the work of contemporary metalsmiths but in historical silver and metalwork in the galleries and antiques shops he visited. In many respects he was heir to Medieval and Renaissance metalsmiths, sharing their meticulous attention to detail and superlative craftsmanship. As functional objects, these goblets are unusual in Krentzin’s oeuvre; however, the procession of fantastical beasts on the foot of each goblet transforms these drinking vessels into stages for his imaginative sculptural mises en scène. They were commissioned by Lawrence A. Fleischman, a fellow Detroit native and discerning art collector, and were used by Fleischman and his family to toast important occasions.
For more on Earl Krentzin, see Jeannine Falino and Martha J. Fleischman, Taming the Beast: Silver by Earl Krentzin (Stuttgart, Germany: Arnoldsche, 2022).
