Jewelry on Show Around the World
A selection of four exhibitions to see by the end of 2018 that take us back in time between Europe and America
A visit to a museum is certainly an opportunity to get closer to the art world in its various aspects. Recently we talked about the Chaumet’s exhibition, which for the first time looks towards the East and settles in Tokyo, until September the 17th. Today the focus is on four jewel’s theme exhibitions located between Europe and America. An opportunity not to be missed and to be added to a travel itinerary that includes a stop-over in London, Brussels, Washington or New Mexico.
Nottinghamshire: The Portland Miniatures: JAR at The Harley Gallery
Till the 31st of December, the exhibition at Welbeck’s Harley Gallery show works from The Portland Collection alongside a newly made piece by JAR, the legendary jewelry designer Joel Arthur Rosenthal. The display, with a selection from JAR’s personal collection includes the ‘lost’ partner from a pair of exquisite mourning rings, that have been reunited for the first time in over 200 years.
Brussels: Horta&Wolfers. Reopening of the Wolfers Frères jewelry store, 1912
105 years after the official inauguration of the Wolfers Frères jewellery business in 1912, visitors are once again able to admire the shop in its original form. To do this, the Cinquantenaire museum has cleared a room of approximately the same shape and area as that originally foreseen by Victor Horta in the building in rue d’Arenberg in Brussels. As in a set design movie, it’s possible to walk around an identical reconstruction of the room, like elite customers of the past. The façade of the building and luxurious interior decoration of the shop had to match the exclusive jewelry and ornaments that Wolfers Frères sold to its wealthy customers. The shop and workshops in the rue d’Arenberg remained in operation until 1973 then the activity became limited to the creation and production of jewelry and the business moved to Avenue Louise. In 1975 it was sold to the French firm, Chaumet. The ‘shop’ is open til the 30th of December 2018.
Albuquerque, NM: American, Jewelry from New Mexico
More than 300 spectacular objects, including all aspects of jewelry adornment from prehistory to the present are on show at the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico till October the 14th. The exhibition tells the stories of diverse heritages simultaneously, as artists live, trade, and adaptation with their neighbors. Regardless of the stereotype of New Mexico being a land ‘remote beyond compare’ and isolated from other cultures, from the beginning artists in the region have been in contact with outside groups, adopting new materials and aesthetics with new exposure. Jewelry making in New Mexico has always been about innovation, with artists celebrating new materials and techniques which, in the hands of master craftspeople, become instant traditions.
Washington, DC: Fabergé Rediscovered
Exquisite works from the famous jeweler to the last court of Russia are revealded in a new light in the special exhibition Fabergé Rediscovered, on view at the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens till January 2019. Featuring over 100 objects, the special exhibition displays the greatest examples from Hillwood’s Fabergé collection, left by Marjorie Merriweather Post for the benefit of future generations, along with important loans from other museums and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the McFerrin Collection, the Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.
Nottinghamshire: The Portland Miniatures: JAR at The Harley Gallery
Till the 31st of December, the exhibition at Welbeck’s Harley Gallery show works from The Portland Collection alongside a newly made piece by JAR, the legendary jewelry designer Joel Arthur Rosenthal. The display, with a selection from JAR’s personal collection includes the ‘lost’ partner from a pair of exquisite mourning rings, that have been reunited for the first time in over 200 years.
MOURNING RING, GOLD AND ENAMEL SET WITH A LARGE SAPPHIRE, 1725
Brussels: Horta&Wolfers. Reopening of the Wolfers Frères jewelry store, 1912
105 years after the official inauguration of the Wolfers Frères jewellery business in 1912, visitors are once again able to admire the shop in its original form. To do this, the Cinquantenaire museum has cleared a room of approximately the same shape and area as that originally foreseen by Victor Horta in the building in rue d’Arenberg in Brussels. As in a set design movie, it’s possible to walk around an identical reconstruction of the room, like elite customers of the past. The façade of the building and luxurious interior decoration of the shop had to match the exclusive jewelry and ornaments that Wolfers Frères sold to its wealthy customers. The shop and workshops in the rue d’Arenberg remained in operation until 1973 then the activity became limited to the creation and production of jewelry and the business moved to Avenue Louise. In 1975 it was sold to the French firm, Chaumet. The ‘shop’ is open til the 30th of December 2018.
PEACOCK FEATHER, GOLD OPAL DIAMOND AND RUBYS, PHILIPPE WOLFERS, 1898
Albuquerque, NM: American, Jewelry from New Mexico
More than 300 spectacular objects, including all aspects of jewelry adornment from prehistory to the present are on show at the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico till October the 14th. The exhibition tells the stories of diverse heritages simultaneously, as artists live, trade, and adaptation with their neighbors. Regardless of the stereotype of New Mexico being a land ‘remote beyond compare’ and isolated from other cultures, from the beginning artists in the region have been in contact with outside groups, adopting new materials and aesthetics with new exposure. Jewelry making in New Mexico has always been about innovation, with artists celebrating new materials and techniques which, in the hands of master craftspeople, become instant traditions.
GRANULATED BRACELET, GOLD SILVER AND SAPPHIRES, RONDA CORYELL, 2003
Washington, DC: Fabergé Rediscovered
Exquisite works from the famous jeweler to the last court of Russia are revealded in a new light in the special exhibition Fabergé Rediscovered, on view at the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens till January 2019. Featuring over 100 objects, the special exhibition displays the greatest examples from Hillwood’s Fabergé collection, left by Marjorie Merriweather Post for the benefit of future generations, along with important loans from other museums and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the McFerrin Collection, the Edouard and Maurice Sandoz Foundation, and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco.
BROOCH WITH MINIATURES OF NICHOLAS II AND ALEXANDRA, FABERGÉ, 1899-1903