Art jewelry

Terminology and Concepts

• Art jewelry is also referred to as contemporary, studio, art, research, design, or author jewelry.
• Studio jewelry is created by independent artists in small, private studios.
• Avant-garde jewelry positions itself as ahead of mainstream ideas.
• Modern or modernist jewelry reflects the spirit of the times.
• New jewelry assumes an ironic stance towards the past, while contemporary jewelry claims the present.
• Art jewelers question the concepts of preciousness and wearability in conventional jewelry.
• They challenge the idea that jewelry's value is tied to the preciousness of its materials.
• Art jewelers started using alternative materials like aluminum and acrylics in the 1960s.
• The critique of preciousness led to jewelry becoming more body-conscious.
• Jewelry lost its exclusiveness to one sex or age and could be worn by anyone.
• Art jewelry emerged as a reaction to Victorian taste and heavy, ornate jewelry of the 19th century.
• Art jewelry reflected a country's identity and was part of a larger international design reform movement.
• The English Arts and Crafts movement produced early arts and crafts jewelry.
• Arts and crafts jewelers believed in designing and making objects by the same person.
• Arts and crafts jewelry favored materials with little intrinsic value for artistic effects.
• Art nouveau jewelry from France and Belgium contributed to art jewelry.
• Art nouveau jewelry was inspired by symbolist art, literature, and music.
• René Lalique and Alphonse Mucha were important art nouveau jewelers.
• Art nouveau jewelry featured curvilinear and dramatic forms.
• Precious metals and gemstones were often mixed with inexpensive materials in art nouveau jewelry.
• Art jewelry has its roots in modernist jewelry in the United States in the 1940s.
• German goldsmiths' artistic experiments in the 1950s also influenced art jewelry.
• The arts and crafts movement of the late 19th century shares values and beliefs with art jewelry.
• Art jewelry scenes exist in North America, Europe, Australasia, and parts of Asia.
• South America and Africa are developing the infrastructure to support art jewelry.

Centers of Art Jewelry Production

• Wiener Werkstatte in Vienna, Austria
• Skønvirke movement in Denmark
• Viking revival in Finland
• Modernisme in Spain
• Art jewelry in Italy, Russia, and the Netherlands

Arts and Crafts Jewelry in the United States

• Popular with amateurs
• Required modest investment in tools
• Madeline Yale Wynne, a self-taught jeweler
• Brainerd Bliss Thresher, another American jeweler
• Used materials like carved horn and amethyst
• Followed the example of René Lalique

Decline of Art Jewelry in the 1920s and 30s

• Overshadowed by art deco
• Audience response to its functional and aesthetically challenging nature
• Significant break from previous jewelry styles
• Laid down values and attitudes for later twentieth-century ideals of art or studio jewelry
• Art jewelry valued the handmade and prized innovative thinking and creative expression

Modernist Jewelry and Art Jewelry since 1960

• Emerged in urban centers of the United States in the 1940s
• Tied to historical events and societal factors like World War II and the Holocaust
• Modernist jewelry shops and studios in New York City and the Bay Area
• Audience for modernist jewelry was the liberal, intellectual fringe of the middle class
• Modern Handmade Jewelry exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1946
• Postwar growth of jewelry in the United States supported by jewelry-making techniques in physical therapy programs for veterans
• Craft-based education and therapy for soldiers and veterans stimulated the interest in craft
• Graduates of craft programs challenged conventional ideas of jewelry and taught a new generation of American jewelers
• Development of architectonic jewelry
• German government and commercial jewelry industry heavily supported modern jewelry designers in the 1960s-1970s

Art jewelry Data Sources