Museo del Gioiello: The Third Biennial Exhibition

There is the Art Room and those on Fashion, Design, Function, Future, to Icons and to Symbol, and then to Magic and Beauty. The Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza has been made over to offer its third biennial exhibition with 310 unique and exclusive items. Priceless masterpieces, many from private collections generally not on show to the public, in an original and unprecedented journey through jewelry history amid contemporaneity and suggestions from the past, in a pluralism of content, eras, geographies and origins. Nine rooms studied down to the last detail by nine famous curators from the world of design, fashion, ancient and modern art, the academic scene and, of course, jewelry tout court. Here’s what six of them had to say. 

SALA SIMBOLO by Pascale Lepeu
«Religion, Royalty, Patriotism, Luck, Protection, Friendship, Family, Love, Lust and Empowerment are the themes that articulate experiences and emotions. In The Arc de Triomphe brooch sapphires represent the helmets of soldiers celebrating Allied victory in World War I.»

SALA ICONE by the jewelers and collectors Gabriele and Emanuele Pennisi
«It presents a substantial body of 19th century and Art Deco period works from our family collection and from other important private Italian collectors. The theme of the figurative element is the connection in this versatile selection.»

SALA MODA by Chichi Meroni 
«The link between bijoux de couture and its representation in the 7 major arts is the main theme. The choice was the creative challenge that led us to an even more enthusiastic research. The most interesting pieces are the bijoux de Theatre, rather rare.»

SALA MAGIA by Cristina Boschetti
«Visitors will discover the complexity of the language of magic in a world of shapes, colors and sounds: from the Roman Age to the 19th and 20th centuries in Oceania, the Middle East and Africa, passing through the Langobardic world, Baroque Sicily and Venetian glass art.»

SALA FUTURO by Olga Noronha
«There are 8 contrasting sections that defyne the transitions between Art, Design, Science and Body Modification. Jewelery is therefore showcased as a niche for multiple socio–political, technological, historical and philosophical frames and approaches.»

SALA ARTE by Marie-José van den Hout
«The selected pieces are very personal, taken from my own Marzee Collection. Dorothea Prühl’s Two Hoops and Annelies Planteijdt’s El Olor de la Vida both, in their own ways, exemplify the thoughtfulness, creative energy and technical virtuosity that I look for in jewellery. I see life in them, passion, and I love that.»