For those of you in the Ohio area, there's a new exhibit of Arts Nouveau Jewellery at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Entitled "Imperishable Beauty," the exhibit opened November 17, 2009, and features jewellery designed by René Lalique, Henri Vever, Philippe Wolfers and Tiffany & Co. In addition, textiles by William Morris, posters by Alphonse Mucha, Tiffany glass, silver, and ceramics from the Cincinnati Art Museum’s permanent collection will also be featured in order to give a background for the art movements that influenced these designers. 
One of the staggering aspects of Art Nouveau jewellery is the realism and detail that the best designers were able to bring to their work. This dragonfly brooch by Belgian artist Philippe Wolfers (Belgian, 1858–1929) is constructed from platinum, gold, enamel, diamond, ruby, and pearl, but it looks so life-like. Beautiful, useful, and true to nature - definitely wearable art!
The exhibition will run from now until January 17, 2010. For more information, visit the Cincinnati Art Museum website. There are a number of related programmes and events that sound like a lot of fun!
Images courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Top image: Orchid brooch, 1901. Georges Fouquet (French, 1862–1957). Gold, enamel, diamond, and pearl.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Imperishable Beauty at the Cincinnati Art Museum
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5 comments:
Headed to see this next month! I can't wait :-)
Oh...wish I were closer to go see! I'm a big fan of Art Nouveau jewelry--the excellent of craftsmanship and attention to accurately portray items inspired by the natural world is quite unsurpassed. These examples are exquisite! Happy Weekend, Margaret! :o)
What beautiful pieces of jewellery, I'd love to see this exhibition.
Art Nouveau had a fascination for nature, fantasy and the exotic East, even in stylised organic forms. It is a shame, but I doubt that young women would love those jewellery styles now.
Another of the joys of Victorian and Edwardian jewellery was the meaning of the materials and shapes - love, remembrance, eternity, purity etc. We seem to have lost this, too, in the last 100 years.
Thanks for the heads up, Margaret! I'm planning a trip south!
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