Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts

The most prominent exponent of the Arts and Crafts movement in California, Dirk Van Erp was born the son of a commercial coppersmith in Leewarden, The Netherlands. After completing an apprenticeship with his father, he immigrated to the United States and gained employment as a coppersmith in the naval shipyards near San Francisco. His decorative metalwares, which he began as a hobby and consigned to other dealers for sale, evolved into a full-time profession in 1908 when he established his own shop in Oakland. Two years later, the firm was moved to San Francisco, where it was flourishing by 1915.

Although the Dirk Van Erp Studio produced a variety of decorative copper objects, including vases, planters, bowls and bookends, it was the shop’s electric table lamps that earned distinction among Arts and Crafts wares. Like other craftsmen, Van Erp was dedicated to the practical realization of the movement’s philosophy; his simplified, balanced designs eschewed unnecessary ornamentation, highlighting instead high-quality materials and solid workmanship. Among his American peers, he was unique for remaining completely faithful to the notion of a hand-made object, refusing to employ machines even for preparatory work.

An early and popular design of the Van Erp shop, this hand-hammered copper lamp features a riveted trumpet base topped by a conical three-paneled mica shade. The lower rim of the shade, which is connected to the rounded cap at the top by three vertical leaf-form straps, possesses the straight edge characteristic of Van Erp lamps made between 1911 and 1915. Supported by three curved and riveted arms, the shade exudes a warm, reddish glow when illuminated that beautifully harmonizes with the dark brown patina of the base. While the visible presence of the structural rivets reflects Van Erp’s belief in the beauty of utility, the hammered texture of the copper expresses his concern for handcrafted objects. In the Arts and Crafts style, hammermarks were left visible to evidence that the work had been shaped by an individual’s hand rather than a mechanized production process which created uniformly smooth surfaces.