Based on Helen Drutt’s comprehensive collection of contemporary jewelry (now in the Houston Museum of Fine Arts) this book is a strong introduction to the history and practice of contemporary jewelry. Peter Dormer writes the critical chapters, which are intelligent and historically minded, offering insights into the issues that individual jewelers tackle in their work, […]
Jewelry of Our Time: Art, Ornament and Obsession Read More »
This book is not only a good introduction to the work of a number of important contemporary jewelers, but also attempts to develop a kind of history of contemporary jewelry that is still relatively rare. In detailing a face-off between the United States and Europe (Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy) Turner does a credible
Jewelry in Europe and America: New Times, New Thinking Read More »
An interesting book that seeks to survey contemporary (or as the authors call it, studio) jewelry in the 1990s and to provide some interpretative frameworks for understanding the practice. The discussions of individual jewelers are somewhat frustrating because of a lack of specifics and a tendency to rely on generalizations, but Amanda Game and Elizabeth
Jewellery Moves: Ornament for the 21st Century Read More »
Conceived, according to the author Roberta Bernabei, as a research tool for those interested in contemporary jewelry, this book wears its textbook origins proudly: an introduction, brief conclusion and resource appendix accompany 25 interviews with European jewelers, illustrated by black and white images and a modest color section. Some of the interviews are better than
Contemporary Jewellers: Interviews with European Artists Read More »
As much a work of publishing art as a retrospective of Karl Fritsch’s jewelry, this book is the perfect introduction to the sheer plethora and spectacle of Fritsch’s cunning combination of the most reactionary and most revolutionary elements of contemporary jewelry. The texts, by various luminaries of the contemporary jewelry scene, are not translated into
Karl Fritsch: Metrosideros Robusta Read More »
While there is no denying the sheer variety of contemporary jewelry on display in this book (color images of 552 pieces of jewelry by 193 artists from fourteen countries) Dona Z Meilach doesn’t do much to lift the book beyond its origins in a call for submissions in which anyone could participate. Grouped by themes,
A comprehensive catalog of the contemporary jewelry collection of the Schmuckmuseum in Pforzheim, this book, by Fritz Falk and Cornelie Holzach (who have both worked at the museum) is also a substantial introduction to the development of contemporary jewellery in Europe and, less comprehensively, the rest of the world. Falk and Holzach offer pithy surveys
Schmuck der Moderne/Modern Jewellery 1960-1998 Read More »
TarraWarra Museum of Art is situated a short drive from Melbourne. Located in a landscape of rolling hills that juxtapose manicured vineyards with paddocks of dry grass and stands of aromatic gum trees, this impressive museum is home to the considerable collection of modern art donated, along with the building, to the people of Australia
Returning to the Jewel is a Return From Exile Read More »
Installation, Adornment and Excess: Jewelry in the 21st Century, Miami University Art Museum, Oxford Installation, Adornment and Excess: Jewelry in the 21st Century, Miami University Art Museum, Oxford Kathy Buszkiewicz also uses money, in her case shredded money (obtained from the Treasury Department) to address issues of materialism, commodification and value/worth. It took her countless
Adornment and Excess: Jewelry in the 21st Century Read More »
Installation, Karl Fritsch: Some Rings Are Fuckwits, Hamish McKay Gallery Installation, Karl Fritsch: Some Rings Are Fuckwits, Hamish McKay Gallery Available for close scrutiny, the raw power of the casting process and the artist’s fingerprints marking the surface of the soft wax in the shaping of each piece, are easier to read. The technical skill
Karl Fritsch: Some Rings are Fuckwits Read More »
The recent renovations at the City Gallery, Wellington have seen some significant changes, particularly the Hirschfeld Gallery. This gallery is for the exhibition of local artists and used to be an odd lower-case, T-shaped space tucked in beside Nikau Café. This location, next to a bustling Wellington food venue, seemed to reflect the diverse shows
Karl Fritsch: Scenes from the Munich Diamond Disaster Read More »
SOFA Chicago. (Or, everyone boards the Titanic.) It would be disingenuous for me to pretend that I don’t have fun at SOFA Chicago. There are great things to be found, but you have to sift a lot of chaff to find it. My assumption has always been that a large volume of the traffic at
Bingeing at SOFA Chicago Read More »
