Antonio Pineda (1919-2009) Taxco 970 silver photo holder keychain. All info in pics, stays shut with catch loop. Holds .5" x 1" pics.

Antonio Pineda (1919-2009)In the mountain town of Taxco in Mexico’s state of Guerrero,
large-scale mining can be dated to thesixteenth century, and silver is a way of
life. In the years following the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), jewelry and other
silver objects were crafted there with an entirely innovative approach,
informedby modernism and the creation of a new Mexican national identity. Today,
at the age of 89, AntonioPineda is one of two living members of the Taxco School
and is recognized as a world-class designerand a Mexican national treasure.
Nearly two hundred examples of Pineda’s acclaimed silver work willbe displayed
in Silver Seduction: The Art of Mexican Modernist Antonio Pineda, a
travelingexhibition debuting at the Fowler Museum Aug. 24, 2008.Significantly,
given Pineda’s many accomplishments and international renown, he identifies
himselfprimarily as a taxqueño, or Taxco, silversmith. From its inception, the
Taxco movement broke newground in technical achievement and design. While
American-born, Taxco-based designer WilliamSpratling has been credited with
spearheading the contemporary Taxco silver movement, it was agroup of talented
Mexican designers who went on to establish independent workshops and develop
thedistinctive “Taxco School.” These designers incorporated numerous aesthetic
orientations—Pre-Columbian art; silverwork, images, and other artwork from the
Mexican Colonial period; andlocal popular arts—merging them within the broad
spectrum of modernism.Pineda himself is lauded for his bold designs and
ingenious use of gemstones. Silver Seduction tracesthe evolution of his work
from the 1930s–70s, and includes more than fifty each of necklaces andbracelets,
as well as numerous beautiful rings, earrings and diverse examples of his
hollowware andtableware. All of the works feature Pineda’s hard-to-achieve
combination of highly refined and hand-wrought appeal.Pineda’s jewelry is
especially known for its elegant acknowledgment of the human form. It is
oftensaid that a Pineda fits the body perfectly, that it feels right when it is
worn. So, for example, a thickgeometric necklace that might at first glance seem
too weighty or rigid to wear comfortably is, in fact,faceted, hinged, or
hollowed in such a way that it gracefully encircles the neck or drapes
seductivelydown the décolletage.In addition, no other taxqueño jeweler used as
many costly semiprecious stones or set them with asmuch ingenuity, skill, and
variety as did Pineda. Only the most talented of silversmiths could master