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Art jewelry is one of the names given to jewelry created by studio craftspeople in recent decades. As the name suggests, art jewelry emphasizes creative expression and design, and is characterized by the use of a variety of materials, often commonplace or of low economic value. In this sense, it forms a counterbalance to the use of "precious materials" (such as gold, silver and gemstones) in conventional or fine jewelry, where the value of the object is tied to the value of the materials from which it is made. Art jewelry is related to studio craft in other media such as glass, wood, and clay; it shares beliefs and values, education and training, circumstances of production, and networks of distribution and publicity with the wider field of studio craft. Art jewelry also has links to fine art and design.
While the history of modern art jewelry usually begins with modernist jewelry in the United States in the 1940s, followed by the artistic experiments of German goldsmiths in the 1950s, a number of the values and beliefs that inform art jewelry can be found in the arts and crafts movement of the late nineteenth century. Many regions, such as North America, Europe, Australasia and parts of Asia have flourishing art jewelry scenes, while other places such as South America and Africa have been developing the infrastructure of teaching institutions, dealer galleries, writers, collectors and museums that sustain art jewelry.
The art historian Maribel Koniger argues that the names given to art jewelry are important in order to distinguish this type of jewelry from related objects and practices. The use of the term "conceptual" jewelry is, in her words, an "attempt to detach oneself through terminology from the products of the commercial jewellery industry that reproduce cliches and are oriented towards the tastes of mass consumption on the one hand, and, on the other, the individualistic, subjectively aestheticising designs of pure craft."Maribel Koniger, "A class of its own", in Florian Hufnagl (ed.), The Fat Booty of Madness, Arnoldsche, 2008, p 32
There are many different movements that contributed to the category of art jewelry as we know it today. As part of the English Arts and Crafts movement, flourishing between 1860 and 1920, Charles Robert Ashbee and his Guild and School of Handicraft produced the earliest arts and crafts jewelry in a guild setting. Presenting their work as an antidote to industrial production, the first generation of arts and crafts jewelers believed that an object should be designed and made by the same person, although their lack of specialist training meant that much of this jewelry has an appealing handmade quality.Karlin, pp 87-8 Responding to changes in fashion, as well as the Victorian taste for wearing sets, arts and crafts jewelers made pendants, necklaces, brooches, belt buckles, cloak clasps and hair combs that were worn solo. Arts and crafts jewelry also tended to favor materials with little intrinsic value that could be used for their artistic effects. Base metals, semi-precious stones like opals, moonstones and turquoise, misshapen pearls, glass and shell, and the plentiful use of Vitreous enamel, allowed jewelers to be creative and to produce affordable objects.Karlin, pp 89-90 In addition to Charles Robert Ashbee, other significant figures in the movement included William Morris, whose design philosophy emphasized a return to traditional craftsmanship, and John Ruskin, whose writings promoted the rejection of industrialization in decorative arts. Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh contributed to Arts & Crafts aesthetics by incorporating stylized floral and geometric motifs into jewelry and metalwork. T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, who first coined the term ‘ Arts & Crafts’ in 1887, played a crucial role in spreading its ideals. Additionally, Henry Cole, Owen Jones, Matthew Digby Wyatt, and Richard Redgrave helped establish the foundation for the movement by advocating for thoughtful design and high-quality craftsmanship.
Art Nouveau jewelry from France and Belgium was also an important contributor to art jewelry. Worn by wealthy and artistically-literate clients, including courtesans of the Paris demimonde, Art Nouveau jewelry by René Lalique and Alphonse Mucha was inspired by symbolist art, literature and music, and a revival of the curvilinear and dramatic forms of the rococo period. As Elyse Zorn Karlin suggests, "The result was jewels of staggering beauty and imagination, sensual, sexual and beguiling, and at times even frightening. These jewels were a far cry from the symmetrical and somewhat placid designs of Arts and Crafts jewelry, which more closely resembled Renaissance jewels."Karlin, p 91 Lalique and other art nouveau jewelers quite often mixed precious metals and gemstones with inexpensive materials, and favored plique-a-jour and cabochon enamel techniques.
Other important centers of art jewelry production included the Wiener Werkstatte in Vienna, where the architects Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser designed jewelry in silver and semi-precious stones, sometimes to be worn with clothing also created by the workshop. The Danish Skønvirke (aesthetic work) movement, of which Georg Jensen is the most famous example, favored silver and native Scandinavian stones and an aesthetic that falls somewhere between the tenets of art nouveau and arts and crafts. Art jewelry in Finland was characterized by a Viking revival, coinciding with its political freedom on Sweden in 1905, while modernisme in Spain followed the lead of art nouveau jewelers. Art jewelry was also practiced in Italy, Russia and the Netherlands.Karlin, pp 93-6
In the United States, arts and crafts jewelry was popular with amateurs, since unlike ceramics, furniture or textiles, it required only a modest investment in tools, and could be made in the kitchen.Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf, Makers: A History of American Studio Craft, University of North Carolina Press, 2010, p 63 One of the first American arts and crafts jewelers, Madeline Yale Wynne, was self-taught and approached her jewelry as form and composition with the emphasis on aesthetic qualities rather than skill, stating that "I consider each effort by itself as regards color and form much as I would paint a picture."W. Scott Braznell, "Madeline Yale Wynne", in Wendy Kaplan (ed.), "The Art That Is Life": The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920, Little, Brown, 1987, p 65 Brainerd Bliss Thresher, another American arts and crafts jeweler, used materials like carved horn and amethyst for their aesthetic qualities, following the example of René Lalique who mixed quotidian and precious materials in his jewelry. As Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf suggest, whereas the British Arts and Crafts movement tried to reunite art and labor, many upper-class Americans like Thresher united art and leisure: "The practice of craft as a recreation could be a relief from the pressure of a difficult job, a demonstration of one's good taste and savor vivre, a polite manifestation of progressive politics, or an expression of the sheer pleasure of satisfying labor."Koplos and Metcalf, p 65 Several other American jewelers made significant contributions to the Arts and Crafts movement. Marie Zimmermann, a highly versatile metalsmith, blended influences from Egyptian, Greek, and Asian art in her jewelry designs. Florence Koehler, a founding member of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society, taught jewelry and metalsmithing and incorporated Renaissance influences into her designs after studying jewelry and enamelwork in London. Janet Payne Bowles, a jewelry designer and educator, contributed to the advancement of handcrafted jewelry and metalsmithing through her international exhibitions and decades-long teaching career.
Art jewelry fell out of style in the 1920s and 30s, overshadowed by Art Deco, as well as audience response to its functional and aesthetically challenging nature (too fragile and outrageous). However, it marks a significant break with what came before, and laid down many of the values and attitudes for later twentieth century ideals of art or studio jewelry. As Elyse Zorn Karlin writes, "Art jewelry valued the handmade and prized innovative thinking and creative expression. These jewelers were the first to use materials that did not have the intrinsic value expected in jewelry, and they rejected mainstream jewelry tastes. They thought of their work as an artistic pursuit and made it for a small audience that shared their aesthetic and conceptual values."Karlin, p 97
In 1946 the Museum of Modern Art in New York organized the exhibition Modern Handmade Jewelry, which included the work of studio jewelers like Margaret De Patta and Paul Lobel, along with jewelry by modernist artists such as Alexander Calder, Jacques Lipchitz and Richard Pousette-Dart.L'Ecuyer, Kelly, "North America", in Skinner, Damian (ed.), Contemporary Jewelry in Perspective, Lark Books, 2013, p 117 This exhibition toured the United States, and was followed by a series of influential exhibitions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.Schon, Marbeth, "The Wearable Art Movement Part I", Modern Silver Website. http://www.modernsilver.com/Walkerarticle.htm Kelly L'Ecuyer suggests that "Calder's jewelry was central to many of the museum and gallery exhibitions of this period, and he continues to be viewed as the seminal figure in American contemporary jewelry."L'Ecuyer, p 117 Using cold construction and crude techniques that suggested a spirit of improvisation and creativity, Calder's jewelry shares his sculpture's use of line and movement to depict or imply space, creating jewelry that often moves with the wearer's body. A strong connection with art movements is a characteristic of American art jewelry during this period. While Calder showed a primitivist interest in African and ancient Greek art, Margaret De Patta made jewelry that was constructivist, manipulating light, space and optical perception according to the lessons she learned from László Moholy-Nagy at the New Bauhaus in Chicago.L'Ecuyer, p 118 Toni Greenbaum writes that "After his mentor, the painter John Haley, showed him work by Matisse and Picasso, Bob Winston exclaimed: 'That's the kind of crap I'm doing!'."Greenbaum, p 40 The materials of modernist jewelry—organic and inorganic non-precious substances, as well as found objects—correlate to cubist, futurist and dadaist attitudes, while the styles of modernist jewelry—surrealism, primitivism, biomorphism and constructivism— are fine art movements as well.Greenbaum, p 27-43
By the early 1960s, graduates of these programs were not only challenging the conventional ideas of jewelry, but teaching a new generation of American jewelers in new university programs in jewelry and metalsmithing courses.Strauss, Cindi, "A brief history of contemporary jewelry, 1960-2006", in Cindi Strauss (ed.), Ornament As Art: Avant-Garde Jewelry From the Helen William Drutt Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2007, p 17 Architectonic jewellery was being developed around the same time.
In the 1960s—1970s, the German government and commercial jewelry industry fostered and heavily supported modern jewelry designers, thus creating a new marketplace. They combined contemporary design with traditional goldsmithing and jewelry making. Orfevre, the first gallery for art jewelry, opened in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 1965.
Some famous artists who created art jewelry in the past were Alexander Calder, Picasso, Man Ray, Meret Oppenheim, Dalí and Louise Nevelson. Some of which represented at Sculpture to Wear Gallery in New York City which closed in 1977.
Artwear Gallery owned by Robert Lee Morris continued in this endeavor to showcase jewelry as an art form.
A collection of art jewelry can be found at the Schmuckmuseum in Pforzheim, Germany.
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