In memoriam: Writer Oppi Untracht

written by Tauno Tarna for the Finnish newspapers

The goldsmith and writer Oppi Untracht passed away July 5th, 2008 in Porvoo, Finland. He was born November 17th, 1922 in New York.

Oppi Untracht studied arts at the New York and Columbia Universities and took a MA degree in 1947. Until 1967 he worked as a teacher in arts and crafts in New York, mainly enamel work. He participated in several exhibitions with his own enamel works.

He also wrote reviews on arts and crafts and photographed objects for several well-known trade magazines. He received a Fulbright scholarship for studies of Indian arts and crafts and travelled around the country in 1957-59. His studies focused on jewelry and were carried on until 1973 in both India and Nepal. This work continued for decades and culminated in 1997 with the publishing of his extensive book Traditional Jewelry of India. Mr. Untracht arranged exhibitions of Indian jewelry in New York in 1998 and at the Helsinki Design Museum in 2008.

Oppi Untracht wrote several books on metal crafts. His prime interest were the working methods on which he wrote two books, Jewelry Concepts and Technology, and Metal Techniques for Craftsmen, both of which still are basic works in this field. Mr. Untracht was an honorary member of Society of North American Goldsmiths and was honoured a Lifetime American Achievement Award of the American Craft Council.

During a study tour to Scandinavia he met Saara Hopea, a Finnish jewelry and glass designer. They were married in 1960 and from 1967 on the couple lived in Porvoo, Finland. In 1988 Mr. Untracht published a book on his in 1984 deceased wife´s work, Saara Hopea-Untracht, life and work.

Oppi Untracht worked intensively together with several museums, e.g. Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the design museums in Paris, New York and Helsinki, the Finnish Glass Museum in Riihimäki and the museum in his home town, Porvoo. In 1993-94 he arranged exhibitions on South Asian metal crafts at the Östasiatiska Museet in Stockholm and the museum of Porvoo. Most of the exhibited objects came from Mr. Untracht´s own collections. The currently ongoing Tibet exhibition at the Museum Centre Vapriikki in Tampere, Finland is based on Mr. Untracht´s objects and studies.  

Oppi Untracht is remembered by his extensive international circle of friends as an emphatic, always positive person and a world-leading expert on crafts who thousands of times patiently answered on questions regarding the origin and working methods of various objects.

Select Bibliography of Oppi Untracht’s Publications (complied by Stephen Markel)
 
Untracht, Oppi. 1957. Enameling on Metal. New York: Greenberg; Philadelphia: Chilton Book Co.
________. 1963. “The Ornaments of India, Nepal, and Tibet.” The Art of Personal Adornment, pp. 6-9. exh. cat. New York: Museum of Contemporary Crafts.
________. 1968. Metal Techniques for Craftsmen: A Basic Manual for Craftsmen on the Methods of Forming and Decorating Metals. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
________. 1980. “The Body Encrusted: Traditional Jewelry from India.” American Craft (August/September): 42-49.
________. 1982. Jewelry Concepts and Technology. Garden City, NY: Doubleday; London: Robert Hall.
________. 1987. “Indian Silver.” Mughal Silver Magnificence (XVI-XIXth C.), pp. 27-50. Edited by C. Terlinden. exh. cat. Brussels: Antalga.
________. 1988a. “The Nava-ratna.” Islamic and Hindu Jewellery, pp. 17-30.
________. 1988b. “[Jewellery of] India” and “Materials and Techniques [of Jewellery Making].” Ethnic Jewelry, pp. 65-93, 173-199. Edited by J. Mack. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
________. 1990. “Review of A Golden Treasury: Jewellery from the Indian Subcontinent, by S. Stronge et al.” Jewellery Studies 4, pp. 89-92.
________. 1993. Metal Marvels: South Asian Handworks. exh. cat. Porvoo, Finland: Porvoo Museum.
________. 1995. “Swami Jewellery: Cross-Cultural Ornaments.” The Jewels of India, pp. 117-132. Edited by S. Stronge. Mumbai: Marg Publications.
________. 1997. Traditional Jewelry of India. New York: Harry N. Abrams.
________. 1998. India: A Jewelry Spectrum. exh. cat. New York: The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts.
________. 2005. “Unique Vernacular Ornaments” and “The Indian Goldsmith.” Icons in Gold: Jewelry of India from the Collection of the Musée Barbier-Mueller, pp. 40-61, 62-73. Edited by L. Mattet. Geneva: Musée Barbier-Mueller.