Earl Pardon was one of the most influential American studio jewelers of the postwar era. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Pardon attended the Memphis College of Art and studied with Dorothy Sturm (1910 – 1988), a remarkable artist and teacher who straddled the fields of modern painting, collage, and enameling. Sturm introduced Pardon to enameling, which became his favorite mode of expression. In 1950 he was accepted as a participant in the silversmithing conference sponsored by Handy and Harman and, while there, broadened his appreciation for hollowware. The experience also brought him into contact with Margret Craver (cat. no. 335), with whom he developed a lifelong friendship.
In 1951 Pardon joined the Art Department of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, fostering the development of such talented artists as Helen Shirk, Glenda Arentzen, Susan Hamlet, and Sharon Church. He retired in 1989.
As part of the designer-craftsman trend that swept other silver manufacturers such as Reed & Barton (cat. no. 354), Pardon was invited to Newburyport in 1954 for a one-year appointment as designer-in-residence under Bill DeHart, another Handy and Harman participant. Pardon’s interest in enamel was evident at this early date, and his chief contribution was the color note in enamel that energized Towle’s new offerings. A subtle surprise in Pardon’s Contempra House flatware was created by the circular dot of vitreous turquoise enamel on a recessed portion of the handle tip, which flashed as the diner handled the utensil. Other enameled forms that Pardon developed include a Chinese- or Revere-style punch bowl and matching cups with enameled interiors as well as smaller candy or hors d’oeuvres dishes in biomorphic shapes and a variety of enameled colors, which found a ready audience.
During Pardon’s tenure with Towle, he and Craver occasionally collaborated. For the first visit by the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts to London in 316 years, Pardon designed a silver and enamel bowl for Queen Elizabeth II and an enameled cigar box for Sir Winston Churchill, for which Craver designed the lettering.
Following his experience at Towle, Pardon returned to Skidmore and focused almost exclusively on teaching and jewelrymaking. He perfected a lively geometric idiom, working in early years on a wire framework with enameled biomorphic shapes. Later he built modular, largely rectilinear sections of brightly colored enamel, which he combined with gemstones. His work demonstrates great color saturation and a refined sense of composition in the use of positive and negative space.

This text has been adapted from "Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000," edited by Jeannine Falino and Gerald W.R. Ward, published in 2008 by the MFA. Complete references can be found in that publication.

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