Hudson Roysher: Silversmith, Designer, Craftsman

Hudson Roysher (American, 1911-1993), a silversmith, designer, and craftsman, flourished in postwar California amid rapid change. While working as a metalsmith, he explored, in the 1930s and 1940s, the industrial design field and the dominant presence of mass-production and consumerism in a technology-hungry nation. He discovered, however, that craft gave him stability, roots, and a link to the past-qualities that are also conveyed in his work, both secular and sacred. Roysher's participation in the revival of ecclesiastical silver taking place at mid-century helped to form his belief that craft, for both religious and non-religious purposes, could connect the user (and maker) to something constant against the backdrop of an increasingly modernized and anxious nation. Craft also served as an embodiment of individuality and of finding one's purpose among the masses. Through his objects, Roysher established a connection to the past and to something familiar by using traditional materials and forms. These forms, however, did embrace characteristics popular in mid-century modern design: clean lines, plain surfaces, and gentle curves. By fusing both the past and the present, Roysher eased Americans into a nation undergoing change in a style that might best be described as "traditional modernism." These works embraced change, but these changes were less dramatic than other strands of modernism in postwar America. While Roysher's works stand for the rejection of mass-production, he, too, is an example of how some mid-twentieth century Americans dealt with uncertainty and change. By becoming a silversmith, he established himself in a long lineage of craftsmen who created both secular and sacred objects. Recognized as "one of the leading silversmiths in the United States [for] his ecclesiastical work," Roysher worked almost exclusively on the production of sacred art from roughly 1951 to the early 1960s. He received over forty commissions, divided almost equally between Catholic and Episcopal churches throughout Southern California, to furnish the growing number of religious structures. An investigation of Roysher's mid-century modern works thus extends the current body of knowledge on the long tradition of metalsmithing, and it opens the door for exploration into the nascent field of sacred craft.