The Metalwork of Samuel Yellin

Joseph Cunningham, Bruce Barnes

$384.95

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Yale University Press
22 July 2025

History of Art & Design Styles; Decorative arts

The definitive study of the works of Samuel Yellin, the metalworker unparalleled in twentieth-century America, revealing his significance and remarkable creativity

This two-volume publication examines in depth the work of Samuel Yellin (1884–1940), a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant who became the single most important ironworker in America. It narrates his family's arrival and settling in Philadelphia and his immediate impact on the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art. The rapid rise and sustained success of his business was founded on his relationships with renowned architects such as Paul Cret; Bertram Goodhue; Mellor, Meigs & Howe; George Washington Smith; and Ralph Walker. His devoted clients ranged from plutocrats Henry Clay Frick and J. P. Morgan Jr. to tastemakers Edward Bok and Edgar J. Kaufmann.

Many masterworks are displayed alongside lesser works that establish the breadth and vitality of Yellin's work. The book seeks to inspire interest in Yellin, whom curators and scholars have at times passed over because of the challenges of placing his work within art historical categories such as Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, or Modernism. Excellent new photographs bring to life many extraordinary objects. Thanks to unlimited access to the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers archives, a wealth of archival material—photographs, drawings, and business records—is published here for the first time.

Distributed for Leeds Art Foundation

By: Joseph Cunningham
Introduction by: Bruce Barnes
Imprint: Yale University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 292mm, Width: 260mm,
ISBN: 9780300273557
ISBN 10: 030027355X
Pages: 1144
Publication Date: 22 July 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Joseph Cunningham is curatorial director at Leeds Art Foundation. Bruce Barnes is founder of Leeds Art Foundation and the director of the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY.